The Philadelphia Eagles are 4-1, but the defending champions are looking much more vulnerable than last season, particularly on offense.
A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith are both frustrated with their lack of usage through five games. However, Smith is coming off his best game of the season. He had a slow start in the game against the New York Giants on Thursday Night Football, and here’s the latest on his status.
What’s the Latest on DeVonta Smith’s Status?
Yes, Smith is playing against the Giants tonight and is fully healthy. He wasn’t listed on Philadelphia’s injury report this week, and his early-season struggles haven’t been the result of an injury. Instead, it’s due to issues with the Eagles’ passing attack.
The Giants led 20-17 at halftime, while Smith had two receptions for 24 yards on two targets. Surprisingly, Brown has started the game well and has five receptions for 73 yards on six targets.
Through five games this season, Smith has totaled 25 receptions on 30 targets for 272 yards and one touchdown. After averaging just 39.5 yards through the first four games of the season, Smith had his best performance of the campaign in Week 5 against the Denver Broncos, catching eight passes for 114 yards in Philadelphia’s first loss of the season.
Last year, Smith totaled 68 receptions for 833 yards and eight touchdowns in 13 games. While his numbers haven’t jumped off the page, Smith is currently ranked the No. 11 overall wide receiver in PFSN’s WR Impact metric with an 84.7 grade.
For reference, Smith has a better grade than Pittsburgh Steelers star DK Metcalf (83.7), Cincinnati Bengals star Ja’Marr Chase (83.5), and Houston Texans star Nico Collins (80.4) among others. It’s also significantly better than Brown’s 68.9 grade, which ranks No. 63 among all wide receivers.
Even though Smith has only been targeted 30 times heading into Week 6 (which ranks 34th among all receivers), his catch rate over expectation is 19.4%, which is sixth-best among all WRs.
Eagles’ Fantasy Outlook vs. Giants
A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith
There is one receiver with more than one game of 8+ targets and under 45 receiving yards this season, and it’s Brown.
With three.
The drama is high in the City of Brotherly Love after the Eagles lost their first game of the season. There was a bomb where it looked like Brown may have stopped a bit early on the route, a highlight that is making the rounds, given the posts he’s had recently across his platforms.
He still impacted the game, just not so much in the box score. The Broncos elected to put Patrick Surtain on him, and that opened up Smith for his best game of this season. Brown even got the better of a matchup with the reigning DPOY in a spot, but it resulted in a penalty that eventually yielded a Dallas Goedert two-yard score.
We don’t get points for that, but the Eagles did, and that’s a start. Throwing in Brown’s direction resulted in a positive play for the offense, and I hope that carries over into a matchup that was Brown-centric in 2021.
Against the G-Men last year, Brown scored from 41 yards out and was responsible for 89 of his 114 passing yards. I think I speak for the entire community in saying that we would take that in a heartbeat right now.
We did see Brown round into form when it mattered most last season (a touchdown in each of his final three regular-season games before scoring in both the NFC Title game and Super Bowl), and that’s the hope here.
There’s really nothing you can do. You’re not selling him for pennies on the dollar, and you’re not benching him for a Calvin Ridley type that gets more targets, but from a very questionable source. You made your bed, and you’re sleeping in it. If you want out of the Eagles’ passing game, make a note of it before your 2026 draft, but for now, you’re not committed and will ride this out.
As for Smith, I struggle to say anything is truly “sticky” when it comes to this Philadelphia passing attack, if for no other reason than we are dealing with small sample size issues every week. That said, I liked what I saw from Smith against the Broncos on Sunday.
The 8-114-0 stat line is nice, but how about a season-high slot route rate (66.7%)? How about seeing eight of 10 targets come less than 10 yards downfield?How about paying off the one deep shot that was thrown his way?
It’s just one data point, but if the Eagles plan on using Smith more as a get-him-in-space-and-watch type of receiver, I think there’s a path for him to retain weekly value, something that is hard if your primary role is running downfield in a low-volume offense. One more week like this and I’ll have him projected to lead this receiver room in points. As it is, both he and Brown are ranked as low-end WR2s for me in a great matchup.