Team Previews - Philadelphia Eagles
Projected Starting Lineup
QB: Carson Wentz RB: Jay Ajayi WR: Alshon Jeffery WR: Nelson Agholor WR: Mike Wallace TE: Zach Ertz
LT: Jason Peters LG: Stefen Wisniewski C: Jason Kelce RG: Brandon Brooks RT: Lane Johnson
Eagles Offensive Profile Under Doug Pederson 2016-2017 Pass Attempts Rank: 6th, 13th 2016-2017 Rush Attempts Rank: 10th, 6th 2016-2017 Play Volume Rank: 3rd, 3rd 2016-2017 Yards Per Play Rank: 29th, 10th Unaccounted for Air Yards from 2017 (Rank): 1,479 (11th) Unaccounted for Carries from 2017 (Rank): 190 (10th)
Doug Pederson's average offensive production as an Offensive Coordinator in the NFL. (3 Seasons)
Passing: ATT COMP PCT YDS AVG YDS/G LONG TD TD% INT INT% SACK YDSL RATE
549 344 62.8 3753 7 220 75 25 4.5 10 1.8 38 227 91
Rushing: ATT YDS AVG LONG 20+ TD YDS/G FUM FUML 1DN
449 1991 4.43 51 13 15 124 8 4 113
Receiving: REC TAR YDS AVG TD LONG 20+ YDS/G FUM FUML YAC 1DN
344 549 3753 10.9 25 75 41 235 3 2 1723 18
Quarterback- Carson Wentz looks to be out for the first game or two of the season as he recovers from a torn ACL that he suffered at the end of last season. He will also be without Frank Reich and John DeFilippo who were instrumental in his improvement, as both took new coaching jobs. One thing is for certain with Wentz this year, his league leading TD rate will drop from (7.5%) as he was just (2.6%) his rookie season. I would expect Wentz to finish around the 4-5.5% range this season which is still very high for an NFL quarterback. Wentz plays in the perfect system for his skill set and with a better backfield, the offense should be improved which is a scary thought for NFL defenses. I do wonder if Wentz will still be so aggressive in the running game as he was 9th in rush yards per game last season as his injury could dwell in the back of his mind. Regardless he will still provide you in that department while other statues like Brady, Roethlisberger, and Ryan offer no value in the run game. I think Wentz finishes as a top-8 QB, but it depends how many games he sits early in the season. I would try to grab him and another QB later in your drafts allowing him to dominate in the second half of the season.
Not often we talk about the backups here but it is needed in this situation. Nick Foles went out and defied the odds and won the Super Bowl and was awarded the MVP to boot. While he is not someone that I want running an offense for an entire year, he clearly is a capable fill in starter and should offer enough production for this offense to be better than average while Wentz recovers. He also throws the ball early and often to Ertz and Agholor something that should be noted for your daily fantasy lineups.
Wide Receiver-
Alshon Jeffery is coming off his least efficient season as a receiver. Catching only 47.5% of his targets compared to his career average of 57.5%, Jeffery was very touchdown dependent last season. With this being his second season in Philadelphia Wentz and Jeffery should have better chemistry and his catch rate should get back to the mid 50% range. Having caught 57 of 120 balls for just 789 Jeffery found the end-zone nine times. The good news is that he was targeted 120 times and 17 of those came in the red-zone which is 13th among receivers. Like Wentz though, it is looking like he will be sidelined for the first few games of the season as he is recovering from shoulder surgery. The injury has dropped his ADP to the mid 80s, which makes him an absolute steal in the later rounds of your draft.
Nelson Agholor broke out in his third season for the Eagles as he caught 62 of 95 passes for 768 yards and 8 touchdowns. The former first round pick might credit his sports psychologist but the real credit goes to the coaching staff who utilized his skill-set. Last season Agholor ran 86.1% out of the slot compared to just 20% in his first two seasons. He is a much better slot receiver and was finally put in a position to win with the move inside. With Jeffery out, Agholor should see his volume increase dramatically to start the season. One concern that I do have is pushing Agholor back outside to start the season while Jeffery is out which will dramatically hurt his production. I am looking for Agholor to take another step in one of the more premier offenses in the league as he should lead the Eagles receivers in receptions. I love his current value in the 9th and 10th round and he is someone who I have a lot of shares of this season.
The Eagles upgraded there number three receiver this off-season with the addition of Mike Wallace as Torrey Smith was not retained. Wallace is coming off back to back seasons in which he lead the Ravens in yards. I would expect Wallace to have a larger role early in the season with Jeffery out and is someone you want in daily fantasy. Another good move by Howie this off-season adding another piece to the Eagles puzzle. Tight End-
Talk about being loaded at a position. The Eagles have the 3rd best tight-end in the league and then went out and drafted the number one tight end prospect in the draft when they selected Dallas Goedert 49th overall.
Zach Ertz went off last season catching 74 of 110 passes for 824 yards and 8 touchdowns. Much appreciated Zach, as I had him pegged as the best ADP value in the draft and had him ranked as the #3 TE last season. "He is the best receiver on the team" and I completely agree with Mychal Kendricks, enjoy prison btw. With Jeffery out early, Ertz will lead the team in targets, receptions and touchdowns this season. He too is a bit fragile having only played in 14 games each of the past two seasons but with 18 red-zone targets in 14 games (4th) best in the NFL among tight ends, give me as much of Zach Ertz as I can get this season. The bad news is you will have to take him early in the 3rd round as top tight-end commodities are very hard to come by.
Should Ertz go down with an injury, run to your waiver wire and add Dallas Goedert. Goedert is my number one tight end prospect and is someone that can come in and play immediately. He is a fairly good blocker for a rookie and has tremendous hands and ability to make plays after the catch. He lead draft-eligible tight ends last season with 574 yards after the catch. I would expect the Eagles to deploy lots of two tight-end sets with Jeffery out, helping fans forget about the production they lost with Trey Burton's departure.
Running Back-
Jay Ajayi looks to lead a running back by committee approach in Philadelphia. The former Dolphins running back should be settled into his new home after having been traded in the middle of last season. Ajayi is taking over the role of one of my least favorite players last season in LeGarrette Blount. This is a massive upgrade in terms of ability, as Ajayi can actually make defenders miss while having enough burst to finish long runs. Ajayi's workload also increased as he got more acclimated to the offense and its playbook averaging 15.1 carries his final 7 games of the season including the playoffs. The bad news for fantasy owners and Ajayi is that he will hardly be involved in the passing game as the Eagles have multiple weapons there. With his over-under rushing yards in Vegas set at 975.5 clearly he should get a ton of carries. He should be the featured early down back and should improve this Eagles running game.
So many options out of the backfield in Philadelphia with Corey Clement, Darren Sproles and Wendell Smallwood. Clement is coming off of a Super Bowl in which he caught 4 balls for 100 yards and a touchdown. Sproles averaged 42 snaps and 9.5 touches a game in his last full season with the Eagles. It is a mess for us fantasy football folks, but the Eagles have a great problem in having so many capable backs in one backfield that all bring different skill-sets making it very difficult to defend. 2018 Vegas Win Total
The Eagles’ Win Total opened at 10.5. The Eagles upgraded at running back and receiver with Blount being swapped out for Ajayi and Torrey Smith being replaced by Mike Wallace. The defense added DE Michael Bennett, CB Daryl Worley, DT Haloti Ngata upgrading an already improving unit. They do have some injury concerns with Wentz, Jeffery out for the first few games of the season. The hardest thing to gauge on a team is there motivation and interest, as they no longer can whip out a dog mask after a game this regular season. While I do think the first game is difficult as the Falcons will have revenge on hand, they should win the next three vs Tampa Bay, Tennessee, and Indianapolis. I think there is a bit of a Super Bowl hangover but not enough for this team to win less than 10 games making them an extremely dangerous playoff team.
