The Eagles have brought back all of the coaches from the previous season. The big question will be what version of the offense will we see. The Eagles started the season throwing the ball heavily, and finished it by running it heavily. The addition of A.J. Brown pushes towards having more pass attempts.
Notable Offseason Moves
Additions
- A.J. Brown (WR)
- Zach Pascal (WR)
Departures
- Jordan Howard (RB)
- Jason Croom (TE)
Positional Previews
Notable Players- Jalen Hurts
Hurts fits in that category of QB where he is great for fantasy, but there are doubts over his ability in real-life. Saying that, with a lack of true weapons on offense, it’s always going to be tough to perform.
Hurts’ fantasy value instead comes from his legs, and that is unlikely to change anytime soon. In redraft leagues, he is right up there in rankings for the season, and if he really dials into A.J. Brown, the ceiling could be top of QB scoring.
Notable Players- Miles Sanders, Kenneth Gainwell & Boston Scott
Sanders is the guy to own in this backfield. Yes, he has suffered injuries that have stopped him from doing what he is capable of but he can handle a workload when healthy. The biggest thing about Sanders for this season is that he needs to get in the endzone. I scored as many NFL touchdowns as he did last season.
With the number of touches that he had, it’s hard to NOT score. The team have seen it fit to allow Jordan Howard to leave, and haven’t sought to replace him either. The issue in this backfield is the same as in Buffalo, the mobile QB. Oh, if you needed another reason to go with Sanders this season this is a contract year for him.
Outside of that, you have Gainwell who was just a scoring machine on very few touches. But his role is fixed to being a receiving back. It’s Boston Scott that gets the carries if Sanders misses time. So really, it’s a case of in a deep PPR league fine take Gainwell, but otherwise leave the guys on the shelf.
Notable Players- A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Zach Pascal, Quez Watkins, Jalen Reagor & Greg Ward
Remember last season when the team had no WR depth chart and the one before that, and the one before that and the……ok you get the idea. Well, things have changed for this season as they bring in A.J. Brown. Now, is Hurts a downgrade at QB from Ryan Tannehill? Probably, but it’s not a leap in ability.
The most positive thing is that Brown has already played and performed in a run-first offense and was fantastic. With the current strength of schedule, Brown could EAT this season. Given how he plays too, he could drag Hurts to solid fantasy finishes.
Apart from Brown, the only other receiver I’d be interested in drafting would be Smith. We saw what he can do on the field in flashes last season, we just need to see him do it on a consistent basis. Playing opposite Brown is going to lead to secondary coverage though, which should really help him breakout. I’m fine taking him and seeing how Hurts pans out.
The other quartet are going to struggle to see the field consistently as the offense is likely to look towards TE Dallas Goedert too. They are going to have some flashes, but I wouldn’t be putting any fantasy value their way for this season.
Notable Players- Dallas Goedert
There are a bunch of TEs on this roster, but outside of Goedert they just aren’t worth considering. Yep, I’m fully aware that you’ll see them pop up stealing TDs but outside of DFS Showdown slates, they just aren’t worth it.
Anyway, Goedert is now the lead TE for the Eagles with Zach Ertz departing to join the Cardinals during the season. With the talent on the roster, there is no reason to think that he won’t get a large target share in the offense. With a full season as the starter, his floor is a TE1. Instead, it’s the volume of targets that is going to limit his ceiling.
That puts him in the middle of a TE1 group for me.
Strength of Schedule
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Image Credit: Bill Streicher – USA TODAY Sports
