The Worksheet, a fantasy football overview by Rich Hribar, breaking down everything you need to know for the Week 5 Philadelphia Eagles at Carolina Panthers Sunday afternoon game.
| Philadelphia | Rank | @ | Carolina | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Spread | -4 | ||
| 20.5 | Implied Total | 24.5 | ||
| 23.5 | 17 | Points/Gm | 24.2 | 13 |
| 26.5 | 24 | Points All./Gm | 16.5 | 3 |
| 61.2 | 22 | Plays/Gm | 68.5 | 5 |
| 66.5 | 24 | Opp. Plays/Gm | 52 | 1 |
| 6.5 | 5 | Off. Yards/Play | 5.7 | 16 |
| 5.3 | 10 | Def. Yards/Play | 4.8 | 6 |
| 37.14% | 24 | Rush% | 42.70% | 15 |
| 62.86% | 9 | Pass% | 57.30% | 18 |
| 51.50% | 31 | Opp. Rush % | 40.87% | 15 |
| 48.50% | 2 | Opp. Pass % | 59.13% | 18 |
- Through eight career starts, Jalen Hurts has 191.2 fantasy points, trailing only Patrick Mahomes (201.3), Deshaun Watson (197.0), and Cam Newton (193.6).
- 50.2% of the rushing yardage gained by Eagles running backs has come after contact, the lowest rate in the league.
- Sam Darnold’s five rushing touchdowns are the most through four games of a season for a quarterback since 1962.
- 37.2% of Darnold’s fantasy points have come via rushing, trailing only Lamar Jackson (44.8%) among full-season starting quarterbacks.
- Darnold is the first Panthers quarterback ever to pass for 300 yards in three straight games.
Trust = spike production for that player
Bust = down-week production for that player’s standards
Quarterback
Jalen Hurts: Hurts is one of just two quarterbacks (Patrick Mahomes) that has been a top-12 scorer in all four weeks of the season. Hurts is adding rushing points, but he has also passed for over 8.0 yards per attempt in each of the past three games and has just one game in which over 21% of his points have come via rushing.
No team has blitzed more than the Panthers (41.7%) this season and Hurts has been no stranger to seeing heat. Hurts has been blitzed on 32.8% of his dropbacks, the fifth-highest rate in the league. Against the blitz, Hurts has completed 27-of-47 (57.4%) of his passes for 410 yards (8.7 Y/A) with four touchdown passes and zero interceptions. Hurts does sport a 70.4% completion rate when he has not been blitzed as a comparison, but his yards per attempt dip to 7.7 Y/A.
The Panthers have an advantage up front in creating pressure here against an Eagles offensive line that is still expected to be without three starters from the beginning of the season, so Hurts will need his scrambling ability. Hurts leads the NFL with 19 scrambles for 150 yards. The Panthers allowed 35 yards rushing to Dak Prescott last week and 35 yards and a score to the Saints quarterbacks in Week 2, so with all of the blitzes they do send, the back door can be open for scrambling yardage.
This is not a smash spot for Hurts, but his rushing ability and start to the season keep him as a lower-end QB1 play.
Sam Darnold: Darnold has been the quarterback that has benefited from rushing production the most to date in this matchup. Darnold is not going to add a pair of rushing scores to his total every week like the past two weeks when he turned in his two QB1 scoring weeks so far on the year. Darnold still has shown a passing floor to latch onto, however. He is averaging 15.4 passing points per game (17th).
The Eagles have given up a lot of efficiency to open the year, allowing 0.57 points per pass attempt (29th) and a 72.7% completion rate (29th), but have also dealt with Dak Prescott and Patrick Mahomes the past two weeks. Without banking on multiple rushing scores again, Darnold should be treated more as the high-end QB2 he was to open the year in Weeks 1-2 than the top-five he has been the past two weeks.
Running Back
Miles Sanders: Sanders has managed just nine total carries the past two games due to game scripts and pass-heavy game plans. The state of the Eagles offensive line is also not doing Sanders any favors here as a part of that game planning. Sanders has caught three passes in each of those games, but has accounted for just 13.5% and 19.6% of the team touches in those games after 32.8% and 34.2% the opening two weeks, which is still in lower-end RB2 territory.
After nuking opposing backfields the opening three weeks, the Panthers were shredded for 210 total yards by the Dallas backs last week. The Eagles have not shown us they can take advantage of anyone running the football since Week 1, leaving Sanders as an RB3/FLEX as a road underdog.
Kenneth Gainwell: Gainwell took advantage of the script last week, playing a season-high 39% of the snaps and turning nine touches into 89 yards and a score, catching 6-of-8 targets for 58 yards. As a road underdog, the potential script is set up again for Gainwell’s role to be active, but the overall usage here is not high enough to fully latch onto. Even last week, Gainwell ran a pass route on just 35% of the team dropbacks, which was a season-high. He is still playing a lot less than someone like Nyheim Hines, who is a similar fantasy asset that also carries a low floor. The Panthers have allowed just 3.4 receiving points per game to backs, the fewest in the league. Gainwell is a floor-based FLEX dart in PPR formats, but is still largely a bench stash.
Chuba Hubbard: With Christian McCaffrey sidelined last week, Hubbard played 47% of the snaps, rushed 13 times for 57 yards and caught both his targets for 14 yards. Hubbard did handle 65.2% of the backfield touches, but it was disappointing that he ran just 10 pass routes, which was 20.8% of the team dropbacks. That receiving role is critical in making Hubbard a volume-based RB2 versus a FLEX play. The Eagles are going to invite the run given all of the zone coverages they play and they have allowed 5.4 yards per carry the past two weeks after losing Brandon Graham for the season. Hubbard is a home favorite to give him rushing upside, but without the locked in receiving work, Hubbard is in lower-end RB2/FLEX territory.
Wide Receiver
D.J. Moore: Moore turned in his third straight WR1 scoring week in Week 3, catching 8-of-12 targets for 113 yards and a pair of scores. Moore now has eight receptions in each of the past three games and is just one touchdown short of matching a career-high.
The Eagles are now allowing the fourth-most points to opposing WR1 options after getting waxed by Tyreek Hill last week, but allowed more reasonable games to Deebo Samuel (6-93-0) and CeeDee Lamb (3-66-0) and Calvin Ridley (5-51-0) prior. With the way Carolina is using Moore, he has WR1 status.
DeVonta Smith: The opportunity continued to find Smith last week and this week the targets stuck as he caught 7-of-10 targets for 122 yards. Smith has had some volatility, but carries target shares of 25%, 29.2%, 15.8%, and 22.7% through the first four games of his career.
Smith has played 51.2% of his snaps at LWR compared to 36% at RWR. The right side of the defense was where Dallas attacked the Panthers last week after losing Jaycee Horn. Smith has provided us with a pair of top-20 weeks and a pair of weeks at WR70 or lower, leaving him as a boom-or-bust WR3/FLEX.
Robby Anderson: The Panthers stayed true to their word in getting Anderson more opportunity in Week 4, but sadly the results did not follow suit. Anderson played a season-high 84% of the snaps and received 11 targets, but he and Sam Darnold connected on just five of them for 46 yards. For the season now, just 52.4% of Anderson’s targets have been catchable, the lowest rate of all wideouts with 20 or more targets on the season.
The volume was a step in the right direction to keep the lights on for Anderson for a W4/FLEX play if thin, but the game scripts should be tighter this week to prevent the overall targets from getting back to double-digits.
Tight End
Eagles TEs: After two weeks of declining snap counts, Dallas Goedert played a season-high 74% of the snaps in Week 4, catching all five of his targets for 56 yards and a touchdown. With the snap increase, Goedert was still out-targeted by Zach Ertz, who reeled in 6-of-8 targets for 60 yards. Goedert has been a TE1 in the two weeks he has scored and the TE28 and TE18 in the two games. Ertz has matched or bested Goedert in targets in three of the four games, but also has been a TE1 in just the lone game he has scored.
The Panthers were just gauged by the Dallas tight ends for seven catches, 76 yards, and two touchdowns to provide a matchup-based outlet, but both Eagles tight ends are still taking away from each other, leaving both as touchdown-dependent TE2 options with Ertz having the higher floor.
More Week 5 Fantasy breakdowns from The Worksheet:
LAR at SEA | NYJ vs ATL | TEN at JAX | NO at WFT | NE at HOU | DET at MIN | MIA at TB | GB at CIN | PHI at CAR | DEN at PIT | CLE at LAC | CHI at LVR | NYG at DAL | SF at ARI | BUF at KC | IND at BAL
