Eagles Fantasy Football Preview: Week 7

The Philadelphia Eagles dominated the Giants on national television for the second year in a row, but did the Eagles’ players dominate your fantasy leagues? Here’s an analysis of the current situation for Eagles players going forward:

QB Sam Bradford

Week 6 Performance: 280 passing yards, 1 TD, 3 INT (9 fantasy points)
ESPN Week 7 Projection: 13.4 fantasy points

Just when it looked like Bradford was starting to get the hang of things, he started tossing up beach balls into the secondary that were easily picked off. People criticized him for not throwing deep in the first couple games, but now we’re seeing why that may have been a good thing. He has no accuracy beyond 10-15 yards and is still throwing too many picks to warrant being trusted as a starting QB in fantasy. Let him remain on the waiver wire, it’s OK to take him off your watch list. He’s just not consistent enough.

RB DeMarco Murray

Week 6 Performance: 109 rushing yards, TD, 14 receiving yards (17 fantasy points)
ESPN Week 7 Projection: 11.4 fantasy points

Murray has now put back-to-back great fantasy performances together and may be on a roll (despite what I may have suggested before). He finally looked comfortable running north-south, although it should be kept it mind that he’s been able to get so many carries because the Eagles have been winning for the majority of the game the past two weeks. If the Eagles are winning, Murray should easily have a good game, as all three wins this season have resulted in great games on the ground (regardless of the skill of the run defense). But the Eagles have another tough defensive matchup against the undefeated Panthers next week. Murray can be trusted as an RB2.

RB Ryan Mathews

Week 6 Performance: 40 rushing yards, 6 receiving yards (4 fantasy points)
ESPN Week 7 Projection: 2.8 fantasy points

This seems like what you can expect on a typical night for Mathews. He’s going to get touches (he had 10 against the Giants and 11 against the Saints), but he’s not going to be a high-valued fantasy prospect. The upside for Mathews is that he’s had a very high yards per carry all year and can possibly break off a run for a touchdown, especially if he’s still getting double digit touches per week, but it probably won’t warrant enough for even putting him at the flex. He’s mostly just a handcuff for Murray right now.

WR Jordan Matthews

Week 6 Performance: 6 catches, 59 receiving yards, 1 fumble (3 fantasy points)
ESPN Week 7 Projection: 9.4 fantasy points

Matthews had yet another disappointing week. He had his highest yardage total since Week 2 against the Cowboys, but lost a fumble. He ended up finishing with his lowest fantasy output of the whole season. It’s disappointing to see Matthews struggling, but Bradford has been erratic at times as a passer and has been spreading the ball out, making it difficult to trust any one wide receiver this year in fantasy. Matthews is averaging just 6.7 fantasy points per week this year. He’s a WR3 right now, but a big week could certainly bump his value back up.

WR Riley Cooper

Week 6 Performance: 3 catches, 76 receiving yards, TD (13 fantasy points)
ESPN Week 7 Projection: 5.6 fantasy points

For whatever reason, Cooper has been the team’s best receiver in the past three weeks. He has grabbed two long touchdowns and is averaging nearly 10 fantasy points per week over that span. Most of the his fantasy points are indeed coming off those long touchdowns though, making it hard to trust him as a consistent receiver in fantasy football. He still hasn’t surpassed three receptions in a game this season. He’s a much better option thus far than Josh Huff or Nelson Agholor if you’re an Eagles nut in fantasy football, but honestly, none of these guys is really worth owning. Also, Cooper missed practice Wednesday due to a knee injury, so that would be another reason in favor of not signing him.

TE Zach Ertz

Week 6 Performance: 4 catches, 43 receiving yards (4 fantasy points)
ESPN Week 7 Projection: 4.8 fantasy points

Ertz has been incredibly frustrating this year. I got tired of him after making the mistake of drafting him, finally coming to terms that he isn’t a TE1. If you’re thinking about releasing him, go for it. He hasn’t recorded a touchdown all year and is averaging just 3.2 fantasy points per week. To put it into perspective, he’s ranked 26th among tight ends in the league, and Brent Celek is ranked just three spots below him despite being the “backup.” Let it go. Ertz is not a viable fantasy option even if he’s playing a ton of snaps.

K Caleb Sturgis

Week 6 Performance: 2/2 FG, 3/3 XP (9 fantasy points)
ESPN Week 7 Projection: 7.1 fantasy points

After a disastrous performance in his first game with the team, he’s put together back-to-back solid weeks as a fantasy kicker. With how many bad kickers there are out there, he could be doing a lot worse. If the eagles’ offense is going to continue to actually score some points, it will naturally result in more opportunities for Sturgis to score points as well. As long as he’s still making his kicks, he’s a potential option as a kicker for fantasy. Not the best one, but definitely not the worst.

Eagles D/ST

Week 6 Performance: 7 points against, 2 INTs, 1 FR, 1 TD, 3 sacks (20 fantasy points)
ESPN Week 7 Projection: 8.1 fantasy points

The Eagles defense was already looking great this year, but Monday night was their best performance of the whole season. They were easily stopping the run and shut down the Giants completely minus the first drive of the game. Eli Manning was forced to throw some ridiculous passes, including just tossing it up a couple times that resulted in intentional grounding that certainly would’ve been sacks otherwise. They’re the third best defense in ESPN so far for fantasy and can be trusted every week for the time being.

More from Inside the Iggles

Home/Eagles News