I don’t know why the Eagles can’t get started on time these days. Did they get bad directions from the navigation? Was it an a.m./p.m. problem with the alarm clock?
But even if the Eagles are usually late to the party, they generally make up for it. You can’t always get what you want, but you might get what you need.
Primary Eagles were all around the top of the Week 7 fantasy leaderboard with SNF and MNF left on the Week 7 docket. Saquon Barkley had a monster revenge game against the Giants (187 total yards, two touchdowns), pushing up to the RB2 spot (ahead of SNF and the two Monday night matchups). Jalen Hurts threw just 14 passes, but fueled by three touchdowns (two rushing), he was the top quarterback with three games left on the slate. A.J Brown had to make do with just five targets, but it doesn’t take much for him to come in. He caught all of them for 89 yards, including a 41-yard score. That made him the WR5.
Philadelphia’s 28-3 win over the Giants had the common bugaboo — no first-quarter points. The Eagles shockingly don’t have a first-quarter point all season. Does it take Hurts a while to find a rhythm? Maybe play-caller Kellen Moore needs time to settle in. Of course, this is a small piece of trivia when the fantasy points eventually arrive. But sooner or later, a team is likely to pay for these wasted opportunities.
Barkley, Hurts and Brown also get a boost from the narrowness of the Philly usage tree. Hurts generally only focuses on three players when he’s passing — Brown, Barkley and DeVonta Smith — who was the lone fantasy dud from Sunday (two targets, one catch for minus yardage). Barkley ceded some work to Kenneth Gainwell and Will Shipley in this spot, but that won’t happen when games are competitive. Barkley’s fantasy day would have been absurd had the Giants actually fought back a bit in this game.
Add it all up and this offense has four set-and-forget players. Barkley could go first overall if you redrafted tomorrow (and yes, there’s still time to do so on Yahoo). Brown would probably be a second-round pick, Smith a third-round selection, I suppose. If you trust Hurts keeps some rushing equity around the goal, he’s a destination pick, too.
Just when it looked like we could trust Daniel Jones, the last two weeks happened. The wild trend with the Giants is home/road splits — for some reason, Jones plays much better on the road, and tends to struggle at home. He finished with 99 passing yards and zero touchdowns before a merciful benching — and he took seven sacks. To be fair, Drew Lock didn’t move the offense, either — somehow, he was even worse.
Tyrone Tracy Jr. was held to nine touches, Devin Singletary just six. They weren’t making splash plays, but they need the downfield passing game to keep the offense on schedule, too. Malik Nabers cobbled 4-41-0 out of eight targets. Wan’Dale Robinson had a representative game, nine looks but a 6-23-0 return. Darius Slayton, sadly, is probably not relevant here when everyone else is healthy. I wonder if a contending team would inquire about Slayton.
Other Week 6 booms and busts
Mixed bag for Lions’ fantasy assets
Not all of the Lions players came home during an entertaining 31-29 escape at Minnesota, but there were three players who made their mark. Jahmyr Gibbs stepped into a bigger rule and had 160 total yards and two scores — that’s good for 30 fantasy points and the RB1 tag as we go to press. Amon-Ra St. Brown also had his best game of the year, snagging all of his targets in an 8-112-1 performance. He’s quietly scored in four straight games, and he’s sitting WR1 with three games left on the Week 7 slate. Forever-underrated Jared Goff completed 22-of-25 passes for 280 yards and two scores. He did lose one fumble and took four sacks, the price of business against a Brian Flores defense. We’ll still take it.
It wasn’t a clean game for the other primary Detroit guys. David Montgomery lost a fumble and dealt with a knee injury, though he returned. His touchdown streak ended and his 12 touches managed a modest 70 yards. Sam LaPorta had one 25-yard catch but was only targeted one additional time. He’s not a featured part of this offense right now. Jameson Williams was also held down, just one target, a catch for negative yardage.
LaPorta is the trickiest kind of fantasy commodity, someone who’s too good to drop but not consistent enough to trust. I know the tight end position has been a mess all fall, but his managers at least need to try to find some sort of upside alternative.
Anthony Richardson struggles in return
Before the season, some pundits thought Anthony Richardson might be the QB1 in fantasy. In reality, he’s the second-best quarterback on his own team — and that’s behind Joe Flacco, a 39-year-old veteran who was presumed retired not long ago.
The Colts beat the Dolphins 16-10, they’ll take that. But Richardson still looked lost. He completed just 10-of-24 passes for a meager 129 yards, with no touchdowns. He had one 22-yard run but otherwise was contained on the ground, 14 totes for 56 yards. And with Richardson struggling, the Indianapolis passing game was a brick, too. Michael Pittman Jr. somehow got to 3-63-0 on five targets, but every other fantasy consideration in the receiver room was at 15 yards or fewer.
Tyler Goodson needed touchdown deodorant, but 14-51-1 on the ground will play in fantasy. He didn’t see any targets. Trey Sermon was more efficient with his work (nine touches, 49 yards), not that either player will make you forget Marshall Faulk or Edgerrin James. The Colts are desperate to get Jonathan Taylor back, especially with the schedule getting nasty. The next five weeks: Texans, Vikings, Bills, Jets, Lions.
Speed Round
• Maybe the Atlanta defense is better than it’s given credit for, but Jaxon Smith-Njigba missed his projection for the fifth time this season. Given that Geno Smith leads the NFL in passes, attempts and yards, we have a reason to expect more from JSN. Now DK Metcalf is hurt and the Seahawks might need to steer more into JSN next week against Buffalo. But I’m getting concerned that JSN has not looked like a special talent at any point during his pro career. Shouldn’t we have seen something electric by now?
• Tank Bigsby was a bell cow and a powerful back in the morning win over New England, but he’s still not a part of the passing game (one target). For his career he has two catches on six targets. You’d like to think the Jaguars could coach him up in this area, but do you have a lot of faith in the Jacksonville staff?
• Patriots fans keep getting what they want — Drake Maye looks precocious but the team keeps losing. Hopefully the shaky line doesn’t start skewing his nerve and confidence. Hunter Henry has 11-13-1 in the two games Maye has started; that makes him the TE3 over that span.
• Remember in our game, we care about numbers — not names. Patrick Mahomes is a name. Here are his numbers, his weekly finishes: QB14, QB14, QB15, QB17, QB20, QB15 (in progress). His last Top 10 finish came during Thanksgiving week 2023.
• A healthy David Njoku can be an impact fantasy player if Jameis Winston gets the starting assignment in Cleveland, which I suspect he will. But we have to be patient with Nick Chubb, who did basically nothing Sunday other than score a short touchdown (11 carries, 22 yards). What does patience mean here? I’ll reopen my Chubb case in 2025.
• Make it four straight losses in a row for the Jets, who still hasn’t gotten past 24 points this season. Yards per game, plays per game, yards per play, they’ve below average in everything. Breece Hall has stepped up nicely the last two weeks, but Aaron Rodgers and Garrett Wilson haven’t clicked like I expected. It was unrealistic to project Davante Adams miracles in his first Jets game, but perhaps asking a 32-year-old veteran to jump start this offense was expecting too much. The New England rematch comes at a perfect time, next week at Foxborough. At least we’re spared another New York stand-alone game.
• It’s been all kinds of porridge for Stefon Diggs since the Nico Collins injury — one hot game (WR13), one lukewarm game (WR29) and Sunday’s cold game (WR44, and sure to sink after four teams play Monday). Diggs is still capable of being a key member of the band, but he’s a bass player now, not a lead guitarist. He shouldn’t be the featured part of your downfield passing attack. It was shocking to see C.J. Stroud throw for just 86 yards against a Green Bay defense that had ordinary ranks into Week 7.
• There are no kingmakers in the Tennessee quarterback room, but nonetheless Calvin Ridley has some explaining to do. He was WR5 in Week 2, that’s lovely. He hasn’t cracked the Top 40 any other week. He’s scored one touchdown. He was a fantasy star once, in 2020. Otherwise, he’s toggled between being good-not-outstanding and being unavailable. And now he’s into an age-30 season. Once the cheese goes bad, it’s usually a mistake to bet on it going good.
• I want to say something nice about Jonnu Smith’s breakout game, but it’s shocking to see Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle do basically nothing after Miami’s bye week. The lack of quarterback depth is part of the problem, but the best coaches at least give themselves a chance. Look at what Matt LaFleur did when Malik Willis was forced into his starting spot. Maybe Mike McDaniel isn’t the smarty pants he’s made out to be. Tua Tagovailoa might be back next week, but even with him Miami still feels like a house of cards.
• Najee Harris is never going to be a superstar, but perfect is the enemy of good. He gains much more goal-line equity with Justin Fields on the bench, and Jaylen Warren is just the change-of-space guy for now, not a threat to the starting job. Say this for Harris, he finishes all of his runs. His yards-before-contact stats are mediocre — perhaps not his fault, though he’s never really been elusive — but he’s above the league average in yards after contact. He constantly moved the pile Sunday night against the Jets.
