The Philadelphia Eagles will face the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 9. Here’s fantasy football start-sit advice for every Eagles skill player who has the potential to make a fantasy impact during the game.
Looking for more lineup advice? Head over to our Week 9 Fantasy Start-Sit Cheat Sheet, where we cover every fantasy-relevant player in every game.
Jalen Hurts, QB
Hurts moved into second place in franchise history in rushing scores on Sunday, an effort that showcased all of the reasons why he is my QB1 this week and the rest of the way.
In the blowout win, he had a pair of Tush Push scores, a perimeter run for another touchdown, and a 45-yard dime over the shoulder of DeVonta Smith in the end zone. He’s a strong bet to be the sixth quarterback to crack 20 fantasy points against the Jaguars this season. As long as he can stay healthy, I see no reason why he can’t be a staple on a fantasy title team.
Saquon Barkley, RB
With consecutive 100-yard games and four for the season, Barkley has more than proven worthy of the Eagles, and fantasy managers, targeting him this offseason. We haven’t seen the versatility flashed much lately (20 total receiving yards over his past three games), and the Tush Push factor is annoying, but Barkley is as explosive as any back in the game and there’s no reason to think he’s not an elite option moving forward.
The Jaguars own the third-worst goal-to-go defense – the concern isn’t if this team will finish their drives with six points but a question of who gets those carries. Annoying? Yes. Does it impact your redraft decision-making? Not even a little.
A.J. Brown, WR
Everything in Brown’s advanced profile is up except for his involvement in the red zone (targeted on 12.5% of his red-zone routes, down from 26.3% a year ago), and I’m willing to write that off as something that will come around with time.
Could he be the slate breaker you need in a DFS or Guillotine league? The Jaguars own the lowest blitz rate in the league thus far (14.2%), and Brown has turned 20 targets into 15 catches for 333 yards and three trips to the end zone when Hurts isn’t blitzed.
Brown is coming off of the worst game by his insane standards of the season and he might follow it up with his best.
DeVonta Smith, WR
Any worries about his ability to make plays were dismissed by a pretty over-the-shoulder 45-yard TD (all air yards), as Jalen Hurts had no reservations about going his way in single coverage. That may sound simple, but given the resources that opponents have to devote to A.J. Brown and this ground game, single coverage is going to be the norm.
There will be matchups where my ranking gap between Brown and Smith is 15-20 spots, but that’s not the case in this one. The Jaguars allow the fourth-highest passer rating when opponents throw to their receivers, and Smith, whose aDOT is 28.8% lower than Brown’s, profiles as the primary beneficiary due to Jacksonville owning the third-lowest opponent average depth of throw.
Smith gives the Eagles a lead with a few big plays and Gabe Davis is on the receiving end of a bomb with the Jags in catch-up mode — who says no to this skinny DFS stack?
Dallas Goedert, TE
The veteran tight end suffered a hamstring injury in Week 6 and has now missed consecutive games. He was awfully ordinary through two weeks (seven catches on nine targets for 69 yards) before taking full advantage of receiver injuries around him in Weeks 3-4 (17 catches on 19 targets for 232 yards).
As long as both A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith are active, I’ll be projecting Goedert, when healthy, much closer to the version of him we saw to open the season than the featured numbers he put up at the end of September.
The Jaguars have been reasonably stout against opposing running backs this season, so maybe that creates a path to usage. But even if you want to pencil him in for those short, chain-moving looks, his aDOT is 23.6% higher than it was a season ago.
We’ve seen hamstring injuries linger more this year than seemingly ever before — this is a situation you’re going to need to watch weekly.
Jacksonville Jaguars at Philadelphia Eagles Insights
Jacksonville Jaguars
Team: After winning seven of eight games in the middle of last season, Jacksonville is 3-11 in the 14 games since
QB: Trevor Lawrence’s yards per pressured pass attempt are down 26.6% from a season ago.
Offense: The Jags have won the time of possession battle just once (Week 7 vs. Patriots). Last week was the fourth time they failed to have the ball for even 27 minutes this season.
Defense: Last week, Jacksonville held the Packers out of the end zone on four red zone trips (66.7%, their rate in Weeks 1-7: 21.7%).
Fantasy: Tank Bigsby has looked explosive at times, but he needs help – in three of his past four games, he’s averaged less than two feet per carry before contact.
Betting: The Jags are just 2-5 ATS in their last seven road games, and each of their past four failures to cover came by at least 11.5 points.
Philadelphia Eagles
Team: No offensive line allows pressure more often when not blitzed than the Eagles (44.1%, league average: 31.6%).
QB: The Eagles have won three straight games – in those games, Jalen Hurts has -2 red zone passing yards.
Offense: From 2022-23, only the Cowboys, Chiefs, and 49ers scored more first-quarter points than the Eagles. This season, Philadelphia has yet to score in the first 15 minutes. If you’re curious, their lowest-scoring season for first-quarter points over the past 20 years came in 2012 (31 points).
Defense: The Eagles hadn’t allowed an opponent to convert over 46.2% of their third downs through seven weeks. In Week 8, the Bengals went 10-of-13 (76.9%), though part of that can be attributed to a one-sided game (20-point win).
Fantasy: Jalen Hurts had his 13th game with multiple rushing touchdowns since 2021, the most in the league (Derrick Henry ranks second with 11 and James Conner third with seven over that stretch).
Betting: After Halloween, since 2020, the Eagles are 12-8-1 ATS (60%) at home and 4-16 ATS (20%) on the road. They head on the road for three of their next four after this game.