The Desai Guys continue their Fantasy Football deep dive with the Philadelphia Eagles
Nick Sirianni was able to take the Philadelphia Eagles to the playoffs in just his first year as the head coach. They were dismantled by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and it made sense considering the Eagles were only one game above .500 last season.
So while the playoff loss stings for Eagles fans, there is a silver lining that this team has the potential to build on their 2021 season. Jalen Hurts enters the season with a lot to prove, which can lead to a potential breakout season. Also, let’s not let the trade for A.J. Brown slip under the radar as the Eagles are doing what they can to make sure Hurts is given all the tools he needs to succeed.
Speaking of which, this article should give you all the tools you need to make sure you win your fantasy football league. How will Brown fare as the new weapon in the passing attack? Can Hurts become a better player than he was last season? These questions will be answered along with more advice when it comes to approaching the Philadelphia Eagles fantasy football outlook for 2022.
Leave Your Fantasy Football Draft With This Player
Jalen Hurts, QB
Hurts is heading into a crucial season for his career. While the Eagles have him under contract through 2023, it’s important for Hurts to prove he can be the franchise quarterback for Philadelphia. He was the starting quarterback for the 2021 season after the Eagles decided to move on from Carson Wentz by trading him to the Indianapolis Colts. Hurts showed flashes of talent throughout his career, especially in college, which led to him being the 53rd overall pick of the 2020 NFL Draft. While he did look good at times, there were also tons of moments where he looked like he needed more time in the film room to understand how to play quarterback at the professional level.
Overall, Hurts ended up finishing the season with 3,144 passing yards, 16 passing touchdowns, nine interceptions, 784 rushing yards, and 10 rushing touchdowns. This led to him finishing as the ninth-ranked fantasy quarterback last season.
Heading into 2022, Hurts was given a big boost in the passing offense with the acquisition of A.J. Brown from the Tennessee Titans. Pairing Brown up with DeVonta Smith on the outside and having Dallas Goedert on the inside at tight end can help to move this offense down the field easily with this passing attack.
One thing to take into consideration is that last season the Eagles ranked dead last in passing attempts and had the eighth fewest passing yards but on the flipside ranked second in rushing attempts and first in rushing yards.
So Hurts should improve his passing numbers but the big thing is that Hurts is going to be a threat on the ground as well. He led the Eagles in rushing attempts and will be a red zone weapon just like last season when he scored nine rushing touchdowns that were under 10 yards in distance.
So looking at Hurts’ fantasy football value in 2022, he’s a great quarterback option if you miss out on the top guys like Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen. As mentioned, Hurts is likely going to improve those passing numbers, but his value is held in tallying high marks in the run game.
Miles Sanders and Kenneth Gainwell are going to eat into those rush numbers a bit but Hurts’ dual-threat ability is what will keep defenses guessing and the Eagles coaching staff would be smart to leverage that throughout the season.
Hurts is being drafted around the top of the sixth round and this is good value for a player that has top-five finishing potential. The strong rushing attack and the boost with Brown being added to the passing game are giving Hurts a strong chance to be one of the biggest value picks in fantasy football drafts in 2022.
Old Face, New Place
A.J. Brown, WR
There were a lot of analysts that were projecting the Philadelphia Eagles to draft a wide receiver in the first round last season. They did get a receiver but they didn’t draft one as they ended up trading for Brown by sending a first-round pick from the 2022 NFL Draft to Tennessee.
After obtaining Brown, they then promptly signed him to an extension worth $100 million with $57 million of that being guaranteed money. This was a big swing by the Eagles who needed to get a good player to pair up with the second-year receiver Devonta Smith on the outside. The hope is this can bolster the passing game which was quite dreadful and featured only two players that had more than 50 receptions (Smith and Dallas Goedert).
Brown was a great player coming out of Ole Miss. He had back-to-back 1,000 receiving yard seasons to start his career in the NFL. In 2021 though, he suffered some injuries that prevented him from playing the full 17-game schedule, and also the injury to running back Derrick Henry disrupted the rhythm of this offense overall as well. Still, Brown was able to put together a solid 2021 campaign as he racked up 869 receiving yards and five receiving touchdowns.
Coming to Philadelphia, the offense is actually going to be similar to what he played in with the Titans. The Eagles like to emphasize running the football and then leverage RPO and play-action plays off the rushing attack. So Brown is likely not going to see an increase in targets with Philadelphia but he also won’t see a decrease in targets either. Brown has had over 100 targets in his last two seasons with Tennessee and there’s a high probability that he’ll see 100 with the Eagles as well.
Keep in mind that the Eagles want to have Hurts become more of a passer, which led to the acquisition of Brown in the first place, and this means that both Brown and Smith can thrive in this run-first offense.
So how should you approach Brown in fantasy football drafts? The talent is there and as already stated, this Eagles offense is akin to what Brown was used to in Tennessee. Look for managers to target Brown around the early third round. This is pretty high because of the big play ability that Brown brings and with the exception of last season, Brown has finished as a top-10 fantasy football receiver in every year of his NFL career.
While it may be a stretch to lock Brown as a top-10 finisher this season because of the massive amount of talent at the receiver position in the league now, he’s a sure-fire WR1 for your fantasy football roster. Draft Brown with confidence that he can be a prime point producer in your fantasy football lineup week to week.
Potential Fantasy Football Breakout Player
Miles Sanders, RB
After Saquon Barkley left Penn State to enter the 2018 NFL Draft, Sanders took over the starting role and flourished in his only year being the starter. He leverages that into becoming the 53rd overall pick by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2019 NFL Draft. He led the Eagles in scrimmage yards in both his rookie and sophomore seasons and was primed to become a premier running back in the NFL.
Injuries have derailed that ascent as he has suffered ankle and hamstring injuries during the 2020 and 2021 seasons which prevented him from playing a full schedule. All that said, the Eagles love to run the ball and Sanders can return to form in the 2022 season.
The optimism is backed up by the fact that he had an anomaly of a season where he failed to score a single touchdown either through the air or on the ground. While some may look at that as a sign that you should avoid him, zig where you should zag friends.
Sanders is in a top-ranked rushing offense and even if Hurts or Kenneth Gainwell steal attempts from Sanders, he should have more than enough opportunities to find pay dirt multiple times through the season. Even though he missed five games last season, Sanders finished second on the team in carries and was only behind the leader, Hurts, by only two carries. Also, he finished second on the team in scrimmage yards and he was only four yards behind the leader, Devonta Smith.
Lots of fantasy football managers are avoiding Sanders because of his injury history. The injury probability is certainly something to worry about but they were never serious injuries and he should still play in at least 75% of games on the regular season schedule in 2022.
Also even though he missed time last season, Sanders was given opportunities to touch the ball and that led him to be the team leader in total touches on offense. So while some may see Sanders as a risky option in fantasy football leagues, look at Sanders instead as an undervalued, high-end, RB2 currently being drafted in the seventh round.
Fantasy Football Bold Prediction
Miles Sanders Finishes As A Top-10 Fantasy Running Back
Yes, it’s time to double down on that recent Sanders take. As mentioned, Sanders gets very involved in this Philadelphia offense when he’s healthy. If you look at the 10th place running back in fantasy football last season, Antonio Gibson, he compiled the following stats: 1,037 rushing yards, seven rushing touchdowns, 294 receiving yards, and three receiving touchdowns. Even if Sanders misses a few games during the season, his involvement in the offense will allow him to reach numbers similar to the level that Gibson put up last season.
The biggest thing is that Sanders should be able to score the same amount of touchdowns as Gibson did last season and if you add those points (60) to the total points scored by Sanders (117.2) last season, Sanders would climb 21 spots and finish as the 24th ranked fantasy running back (with 177.2 fantasy football points).
While it’s still way outside the top-10 (Gibson scored 229.1 fantasy points), the increased numbers Sanders will amass will lead to that gap shrinking and Sanders being a top-10 running back in 2022. Sanders would only need to score 51.9 fantasy football points to close that gap and finish at 10th place. Apologies for all the math in a fantasy football article but what it all boils down to is that Sanders is going to finish in the top 10 and will give you immense value if you draft him in the middle rounds.
