Philadelphia Eagles Fantasy Football News | Shark Bites

Eagles QB Jalen Hurts heads into Monday night as the 5th-highest scorer among QBs (in formats with 4-point TD passes) despite throwing for just 243 yards and 0 TDs in Sunday's win over the Lions. The driver, of course, was his 15-90-1 rushing line, which came from a mix of designed running plays and scrambles. Philadelphia kept the RPO heavily involved in the offense, and Hurts displayed an immediate connection with new WR A.J. Brown. The opener looked like exactly what you should have expected if you drafted Hurts, with plenty of upside remaining on the passing front.

If the opener laid out Philly's passing plan, then WR A.J. Brown will not have any target-volume issues. Instead, he'll be a big problem for his teammates. Brown claimed 13 targets among QB Jalen Hurts' 32 pass attempts in Sunday's win over the Lions, a 40.6% share. That's certainly not a rate we'd bet on continuing. But Brown could lose a quarter of that share and still rank among the league leaders in the category. He caught 10 balls for 155 yards, factoring in at all levels of the passing game. No other Eagle drew more than 4 targets, with TE Dallas Goedert, WR DeVonta Smith and RB Kenneth Gainwell tying for 2nd place. Goedert managed 3 catches for 60 yards. Smith didn't catch a pass. Brown will obviously remain a weekly starter for any fantasy team that drafted him. Goedert looks fine to continue using, as we'd expect at least a slight bump from his Week 1 target share of 12.5%. Smith would be better to bench at least until we see this passing picture develop a little further. Smith did, at least, play 6 more snaps than Brown and run 1 more route vs. Detroit.

Giants RB Saquon Barkley torched the Titans for 194 total yards on 24 touches. Yeah…he’s back. Not only based on today’s results, or the eye test. But check this one out, too: Barkley reached 21.11 MPH on today’s 68-yard run. That marked his fastest speed as a ball carrier since Week 17 of 2019, per Next Gen Stats. A healthy Barkley should continue to roll as an upside RB1. Week 2 brings up a home date with Carolina.

Broncos TE Albert Okwuegbunam isn't listed on the Week 1 injury report. He said last weekend that he was dealing with a "lower-body injury" but is evidently ready to go for Monday night's opener vs. the Seahawks. Okwuegbunam will be Denver's clear lead TE with rookie TE Greg Dulcich on IR.

The Colts have ruled LB Shaquille Leonard out for Sunday's opener against the Texans. The veteran is still working back from June back surgery. We'll see about his status for Week 2. Leonard's absence leaves Bobby Okereke as the best play at LB for the Colts, and a high-upside IDP option for the week.

Buccaneers WR Julio Jones landed on the 2nd team on Tampa Bay's initial "unofficial" depth chart of the regular season. That puts him behind WRs Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Russell Gage. We'll exactly what that means as we move toward and then see the opener. Barring 1 of the top 3 being ruled out for Week 1, though, Jones will be a risky opening-week fantasy option.

Broncos TE Albert Okwuegbunam said he's dealing with a "lower-body" injury. He was held out of the preseason finale but said he could have played if it was a regular-season game. It sounds like Okwuegbunam will be fine for Week 1, but we'll keep an eye on his practice participation this coming week.

Colts LB Shaquille Leonard hit the practice field Wednesday for the 1st time since his June back surgery. That doesn't necessarily mean he'll be ready for the regular-season opener, but it's another sign that his full return is approaching. We'll watch the official practice reports on Leonard leading up to Week 1 and see if HC Frank Reich offers further status updates.

The Colts are taking LB Shaquille Leonard of the PUP list, according to multiple reports. We'll see what the team says about just when we should expect Leonard to return to the field, but this is obviously good news. It means Indy at least expects its defensive stud to be ready inside the 1st 4 games. Leonard has missed all of training camp and the preseason while recovering from June back surgery.

The Saints are trading DB Chauncey Gardner-Johnson to the Eagles for a 5th-round pick in 2023 and a 6th-rounder in 2024. On the same day, Philly released starting S Anthony Harris. That points to Gardner-Johnson -- who played a lot of slot CB in New Orleans -- lining up next to Marcus Epps as a safety in the Philadelphia defense. CGJ immediately gains IDP value as likely a full-time player for his new team. He was near that level with the Saints but figures to get a slight boost. Gardner-Johnson also might carry a CB designation in leagues that split DBs by position, which makes him worth particular attention there.

Bucs QB Tom Brady said WR Julio Jones is "really easy to have chemistry with" after Saturday night's preseason game. "Elite wide receiver," Brady said of Jones. The duo connected for a 20-yard gain on their only series of the final exhibition. With WR Russell Gage still sidelined with his hamstring injury -- and WR Chris Godwin coming off his torn ACL -- Jones could open the season with a big role.

The Eagles rested RB Boston Scott -- along with many starters -- in Saturday's preseason finale. RB Kenneth Gainwell played, however -- though he did leave after the team's 1st offensive possession. Brandon Lee Gowton of the Bleeding Green Nation Eagles blog writes that "points to him being RB3, which is a little weird because Gainwell seemed like RB2 for most of camp." Gainwell opened his rookie season as RB2 behind Miles Sanders before falling behind Scott and Jordan Howard in usage after Sanders went down. We'll see exactly how things sort out here. For now, both Gainwell and Scott make sense in the double-digit rounds of fantasy football drafts. Sanders is also going late enough to mitigate some of the risk on his role uncertainty and high injury probability. This could be a frustrating situation for fantasy players to deal with week to week, though.

The Steelers are happy with the progress QB Kenny Pickett has made over the past month. The rookie struggled early in camp but has been excellent in 2 preseason games, completing 86.4% of his passes with 3 TDs and 0 INT. “The thing that stood out with Kenny from the games is that it hasn’t been too big for him,” QBs coach Mike Sullivan said. “He has gone in and performed very well and not been overwhelmed by the circumstances and the situations and the pressure. Secondly, he has shown a knack, particularly in this second game, to have poise and anticipation. He made some throws with defenders right up in his face." Pickett might not be named Pittsburgh's Week 1 starter, but we're expecting him to take over before long. He's worth a look as a QB3 in Superflex leagues and 1-QB best-ball leagues.

This isn't a bad thing to hear from HC Nick Sirianni, about Eagles QB Jalen Hurts, according to NBC Sports Philly's Reuben Frank: "Jalen's practice yesterday was the best practice he's had as an Eagle, or at least since I've been here. What he was going with the football and being able to go through reads and progressions that fast and getting the ball where it needed to go was unbelievable." It's possible the Philadelphia passing offense throws significantly more often than we're projecting. We're already excited about the fantasy upside for Hurts and TE Dallas Goedert. The volume boost, though, would be key for A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith to pay off at their ADPs.

NFL insider Albert Breer tweeted Wednesday that Buccaneers WR Julio Jones “is playing fast, looks smooth [and] has clicked with Tom Brady.” Breer recently visited Bucs camp and observed the coaching staff limiting Jones’ practice reps. (No surprise there.) Despite injury risk, the veteran is an intriguing bench stash alongside Brady.

Broncos TE Albert Okwuegbunam played into the 4th quarter of Saturday's preseason game against the Bills. HC Nathaniel Hackett said afterwards that Okwuegbunam "needs the reps." Added Hackett, "Our tight ends are playing really well, the five guys we have playing, so we want to get a good look at all of them. There are guys who played a little more football than others ... I’m excited to see the film and see where (the tight ends) are at.” Okwuegbunam remains the favorite to open the season as Denver's lead pass-catching TE, especially with rookie Greg Dulcich still dealing with hamstring trouble. But it's clear that the Broncos' new coaching staff isn't yet completely sold on him.

Steelers rookie QB Kenny Pickett worked 2nd behind Mitchell Trubisky in Saturday's preseason game against the Jaguars, and he fared quite well. The 1st-round pick completed 6 of 7 passes for 76 yards and a go-ahead TD with time running out at the end of the 1st half. He logged a near-perfect 151.5 passer routing and worked with Pittsburgh's starting pass-catchers. HC Mike Tomlin seemed impressed afterward with Pickett driving the team for the late-1st-half TD. "It's probably who he is," Tomlin said, referring to Pickett's ability to perform under pressure. "I know he did it next door [in college]. He probably did it in high school, and he probably did it in little league. Some things, people are born with." Tomlin also said that he thought Trubisky "played well" and that the team needed to protect him better and run the ball more effectively to give a "fair evaluation" between the QBs. When asked whether there would be any movement on the QB depth chart, Tomlin declined to make any "knee-jerk reactions." From our vantage point, Pickett certainly seems to be building his case for taking over the job at some point this year -- even if he doesn't claim it by Week 1.

The Athletic's Mark Kaboly lists Steelers QB Kenny Pickett among the team's training camp winners. The rookie got off to a slow start in camp but has evidently turned things around. "He’s been more consistent in practice, making quicker decisions," Kaboly writes. "And how can you not take into account what he did in his first preseason game? Now, he still won’t be the starter in Week 1 in Cincinnati, but he seems to be at the point where he can be trusted at the No. 2, and you couldn’t say that three weeks ago." Although QB Mitchell Trubisky remains the heavy favorite to open the season as Pittsburgh's starter, Pickett is still a strong bet to make starts.

ESPN's Jordan Ranaan says Giants RB Saquon Barkley "has looked the best he has in years." Ranaan cites both HC Brian Daboll and QB Daniel Jones describing Barkley as explosive and says that matches what he's seen "every day." Ranaan adds that the lack of backfield depth points to a "huge" workload for Barkley and says "the strength of the Giants' offensive line appears to be its run-blocking." We have been -- and continue to be -- excited about Barkley's fantasy football upside for 2022.

Steelers QB Kenny Pickett got the majority of 2nd-team reps in Monday's practice, the 1st since Pickett went 13-of-15 for 95 yards and 2 TDs in the preseason opener. OC Matt Canada said Monday's work was not a promotion, though, but rather part of the team's plan. “Yeah, we’ve got a system in place,” Canada told Mark Kaboly of The Athletic. “Coach, we’ve had this thing mapped out since I don’t know when. We’ll continue to stay right on our plan and see where it goes.” Canada did add that performance can shake up the plan: "How you play does matter. I don’t act like we’re just going to stick to it no matter what happens. But we have a plan, and until something drastically changes it, we’re going to continue to methodically go through our plan as we see it." We'd still bet on Mitchell Trubisky opening the regular season as Pittsburgh's starter. But we'll see what the play of all 3 Pittsburgh QBs does to affect that.