Eagles Fantasy Football Preview: Week 15
The Philadelphia Eagles pulled off back-to-back wins, something they haven’t done in a long time this season.
But has their fantasy football value increased any more after a second win in a row? See my analysis and projections for Week 15:
QB Sam Bradford
Week 14 Performance: 247 passing yards, 1 TD, 1 INT (11 fantasy points)
ESPN Week 15 Projection: 14.2 fantasy points
Bradford is not exactly a game manager, but he puts up similar stats to people who might receive that label. He hasn’t surpassed 300 passing yards since Week 5 and only has three games this season with multiple touchdown passes. He has a pretty low ceiling, but he also has a pretty high floor, which means you pretty much know what you’re going to get from him. Unfortunately, that isn’t going to be more than 11-13 points on a regular week. He’s still not worth owning.
Week 14 Performance: 34 rushing yards, 3 receiving yards (3 fantasy points)
ESPN Week 15 Projection: 6.2 fantasy points
Murray’s 13 touches only led to 37 total yards, which is about as bad as he’s normally been this year. Even getting four yards per touch is a lot to ask from Murray, who is struggling to even remain worth using by an NFL team. With the committee of running backs that has formed for the Eagles, forget about using Murray as even a flex option. His value is officially gone.
Eagles
RB Ryan Mathews
Week 14 Performance: 38 rushing yards, 4 receiving yards (3 fantasy points)
ESPN Week 15 Projection: 6.5 fantasy points
The Bills defense is good, especially against the run, so that may be the reason for the struggles of all three Eagles running backs on Sunday. However, Mathews’ projection going into the game (8.9) was a little too optimistic. It was his first game back from a concussion, and even though he recorded his second most carries of the season, he still was no more effective than Murray. Mathews will have another tough week next week against the Cardinals and is no more than a hazy flex option.
Week 14 Performance: 41 rushing yards, TD, 4 receiving yards (10 fantasy points)
ESPN Week 15 Projection: 7.7 fantasy points
Sproles had the best game among the Eagles’ three running backs, but that was mostly saved by his short touchdown run early in the game. I was very surprised to see Sproles get the goal line carry despite being so small, but he was able to punch it in for the score. He seems to have the most value of any Eagles running back moving forward, as he now has double digit fantasy points in three of the last four weeks. He is a solid flex option against the Cardinals because of his ability to score in so many ways, so don’t expect a lot of yardage, just hope for a touchdown.
Week 14 Performance: 3 catches, 19 receiving yards (1 fantasy point)
ESPN Week 15 Projection: 7.1 fantasy points
Another painfully underwhelming performance from Matthews, who has now been held to under five receptions in five straight games. His production has dropped off a cliff after he was seemingly so dominant in the first few weeks of the season. The Eagles have decided to run the ball a lot more, and even with Bradford looking better, he just won’t be passing very much, leaving very few targets to go around. He is also fighting a back injury that stems back to before last week. Matthews is a low-end WR3, but much more like a WR4 at this point.
Week 14 Performance: 3 catches, 62 receiving yards, TD (12 fantasy points)
ESPN Week 15 Projection: 4 fantasy points
Agholor had by far the best game of his NFL career, scoring his first touchdown and logging over 50 yards for the first time since Week 4. In fact, his 12 fantasy points doubled his entire season output up to this point. I really want to see Agholor do well, but the Eagles’ offense doesn’t help out the stats of wide receivers at the moment, and it’s not likely that he’ll be able to continue doing well. He’s still not worth owning and probably won’t be this season.
TE Zach Ertz
Week 14 Performance: 5 catches, 98 receiving yards (9 fantasy points)
ESPN Week 15 Projection: 7 fantasy points
Out of nowhere, Ertz actually had a really good game, coming just two yards shy of hitting the century mark. It was his best receiving total of the season and his best fantasy performance too. It’s still hard to trust him going forward for the same reasons I gave for Matthews and Agholor, but he’s an okay option as a fill-in guy if necessary.
Week 14 Performance: 3/3 FG, 2/2 XP (13 fantasy points)
ESPN Week 15 Projection: 7.9 fantasy points
Sturgis had a really solid game on Sunday, hitting all of his kicks on the day for his second best fantasy output of the season. Like any kicker, he’s going to have more value when the Eagles are winning, but because it’s so hard to determine what the Eagles will look like each week, it’s a risky move to employ Sturgis as your kicker, especially when every point matters during the fantasy playoffs. He’s not a terrible option, but as I’ve said before, there are probably better ones.
Eagles D/ST
Week 14 Performance: 20 points allowed, 1 interception, 1 fumble recovery, 1 sack (2 fantasy points)
ESPN Week 15 Projection: 7.9 fantasy points
The Eagles defense wasn’t as electric as it was the week before when it scored three touchdowns, totaling just a few statistics here and there. Ed Reynolds picked off Tyrod Taylor to essentially end the game, which was what gave the defense a positive amount of fantasy points for the week. Knowing how dominant Larry Fitzgerald always is against the Eagles, I would try to stay away from starting the Eagles D next week against the Cardinals, who look like one of the best teams in the league.