The Philadelphia Eagles will face the Green Bay Packers on Wild Card Weekend. Here’s the latest fantasy football news and advice to help you with your lineups this week and moving forward, especially regarding QB Jalen Hurts.
Is Jalen Hurts Playing vs. the Packers?
Hurts (concussion/left finger) practiced in full on Thursday and Friday.
Per Martin Frank of The Delaware News Journal, Hurts led quarterback drills for a second practice in a row Thursday, upgrading from limited to all activity in the process.
He has no injury designation on the final Eagles injury report.
We’ll continue to monitor the Eagles’ injury report. You can also visit and bookmark our NFL Injury Tracker and Fantasy News Tracker for the latest updates.
Should You Start or Sit Jalen Hurts on Wild Card Weekend?
Hurts (and the coaching staff) is trusting his reads longer, a continued trend from the past few seasons. His quick pass rate in 2022 was 69.8% — it dipped to 61.7% in 2023 and finished this year at 57.3%. This is allowing his talented teammates to work downfield; against a Packers secondary with question marks, that fuels considerable upside.
Week 1 was forever ago, but we had a healthy version of this Eagles team. That seems to be the case here (assuming that Hurts is cleared of any concussion-related restrictions). In that win, Hurts was locked onto A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith (62.1% of targets, 60% of completions, and 73% of pass yards).
- Over 30 rushing yards in four of five career playoff games
- Rushing TD or a dozen rush attempts in 13 of 14 healthy games this regular season
The rushing upside speaks for itself, and if he is going to rely heavily on his most talented teammates, Hurts has every chance to be the leading scoring player in this round. He won’t be a unique play, but with three other athletic quarterbacks on the slate, I don’t expect any singular QB to be too popular.
Are you looking for start/sit advice for other players in your lineup? Read our Wild Card Weekend Fantasy Start-Sit Advice Cheat Sheet for every fantasy-relevant player in every game.
Jalen Hurts’ Fantasy Points Projection on Wild Card Weekend
As of Sunday, Hurts is projected to score 25.3 fantasy points on Wild Card Weekend. This includes 247.2 passing yards, 1.4 passing touchdowns, and 0.6 interceptions. It also includes 11 rushing attempts for 48.8 yards and 0.9 touchdowns.
Check out the free PFN Fantasy Start-Sit Optimizer for the latest projections and advice for your lineups this week.
PFN Insight on the Rams' Defense
The Los Angeles Rams' defense finished in the bottom 10, but this ranking doesn't really reflect the team's week-to-week variance. The Wild Card round was another example of the surprisingly high ceiling this unit possesses, with Los Angeles recording an 88.5 (B+) grade.
That was not only the best for the Rams this season, but also their fourth-best in a game since 2019.
Throwing out the meaningless Week 18 contest, this unit ended the season hot. The Rams posted a weekly top-15 finish in four out of five weeks from Weeks 13-17. The exception was the 44-42 bonanza against the Bills in Week 14, in which the Rams posted an F grade.
Los Angeles had four top-10 finishes in the regular season, yet it was also one of three defenses with multiple F grades (Bengals and Panthers). Overall, the Rams graded as a below-average defense in nearly every category that comprises our defensive rankings. The glaring exception is red-zone defense, where LA had the fifth-lowest TD rate allowed.
The defense certainly has the peaks to complement the star power on offense, which hasn't delivered as consistently in the second half of the season. While their low floor likely caps their playoff upside, the Rams have enough variance to beat any team any given week.
For more insight on all other team defenses, head to our PFN Defense+ Metric Analysis.
Jalen Hurts’ Fantasy Ranking
Our Weekly Consensus PPR Rankings are below — both positional and overall. They were last updated at 9:15 AM ET on Saturday, January 18. If you're in a Superflex league, make sure you check out our Divisional Round Superflex Rankings.
Divisional Round QB PPR Rankings
1) Josh Allen | BUF (vs. BAL)
2) Lamar Jackson | BAL (at BUF)
3) Jayden Daniels | WAS (at DET)
4) Jalen Hurts | PHI (vs. LAR)
5) Jared Goff | DET (vs. WAS)
6) Patrick Mahomes | KC (vs. HOU)
7) Matthew Stafford | LAR (at PHI)
8) C.J. Stroud | HOU (at KC)
Rams at Eagles Trends and Insights
Los Angeles Rams
Team: Through five weeks, the remaining four teams in the AFC were 1-2-3-4 in the conference standings. In the NFC, the Vikings were sitting atop the conference (5-0), while the Rams were tied with the Panthers in the basement (1-4).
QB: Matthew Stafford was a slow starter during the regular season (35th of 36 qualifiers in first-quarter completion percentage), but that wasn't the case against the Vikings (11/12 for 124 yards and a touchdown).
Offense: Even in the impressive win, the Rams struggled on third down (two-of-10) -- they've failed to convert over 25% of their third down opportunities in seven different games this season.
Defense: Only once during the regular season did the Rams record more than four sacks. Monday was a different story as they tied the NFL record for most sacks in a playoff game (nine).
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Fantasy: Cooper Kupp has earned just 10 targets on 87 routes run (five receptions) over his past four games.
Betting: Since their Week 6 bye, the Rams have played four games against playoff teams, scoring an average of 30.3 points in each.
Philadelphia Eagles
Team: Philadelphia won 14 games during the regular season, the fourth time in franchise history that they’ve won at least a baker’s dozen – they represented the NFC in the Super Bowl in each of the previous three seasons (2004, 2017, and 2022).
QB: Jalen Hurts posted a 69.6 QB+ on Sunday against the Packers, the third lowest since 2019 in a playoff victory (only Jimmy Garoppolo in 2021 and Trevor Lawrence in 2022 were able to advance despite a lesser grade).
Offense: The NFL average for points per drive is 2.06 – the Eagles haven’t been held under 2.00 points per possession since September.
Defense: The Packers scored 53.8% of their third downs on Sunday, the second-highest rate produced by an opponent against the Eagles this season, topped only by the Bengals (Week 8).
Fantasy: A.J. Brown turned 24 routes into just a single catch – his 0.42 yards per route run was the sixth-worst mark of his career. Safe to call that the outlier and not the norm, as this has been his best season in that metric (2.87).
Betting: The Eagles are 8-2 ATS since 2005 in non-Wild Card playoff games (six of those covers came by more than seven points).
