Fantasy Football Booms and Busts: Saquon Barkley gets revenge as Eagles eventually deliver in Week 7

I don’t know why the Eagles can’t get started on time these days. Did they get bad directions from the navigation? Was it an a.m./p.m. problem with the alarm clock?

But even if the Eagles are usually late to the party, they generally make up for it. You can’t always get what you want, but you might get what you need.

Primary Eagles were all around the top of the Week 7 fantasy leaderboard with SNF and MNF left on the Week 7 docket. Saquon Barkley had a monster revenge game against the Giants (187 total yards, two touchdowns), pushing up to the RB2 spot. Jalen Hurts threw just 14 passes, but fueled by three touchdowns (two rushing), he was the top quarterback at 4:25 pm ET. A.J Brown had to make do with just five targets, but it doesn’t take much for him to come in. He caught all of them for 89 yards, including a 41-yard score. That slotted him at WR5 by mid-afternoon.

Philadelphia’s 28-3 win over the Giants had the common bugaboo — no first-quarter points. The Eagles shockingly don’t have a first-quarter point all season. Does it take Hurts a while to find a rhythm? Maybe play-caller Kellen Moore needs time to settle in. Of course, this is a small piece of trivia when the fantasy points eventually arrive. But sooner or later, a team is likely to pay for these wasted opportunities.

Barkley, Hurts and Brown also get a boost from the narrowness of the Philly usage tree. Hurts generally only focuses on three players when he’s passing — Brown, Barkley and DeVonta Smith — who was the lone fantasy dud from Sunday (two targets, one catch for minus yardage). Barkley ceded some work to Kenneth Gainwell and Will Shipley in this spot, but that won’t happen when games are competitive. Barkley’s fantasy day would have been absurd had the Giants actually fought back a bit in this game.

Add it all up and this offense has four set-and-forget players. Barkley could go first overall if you redrafted tomorrow (and yes, there’s still time to do so on Yahoo). Brown would probably be a second-round pick, Smith a third-round selection, I suppose. If you trust Hurts keeps some rushing equity around the goal, he’s a destination pick, too.

Just when it looked like we could trust Daniel Jones, the last two weeks happened. The wild trend with the Giants is home/road splits — for some reason, Jones plays much better on the road, and tends to struggle at home. He finished with 99 passing yards and zero touchdowns before a merciful benching — and he took seven sacks. To be fair, Drew Lock didn’t move the offense, either — somehow, he was even worse.

Tyrone Tracy Jr. was held to nine touches, Devin Singletary just six. They weren’t making splash plays, but they need the downfield passing game to keep the offense on schedule, too. Malik Nabers cobbled 4-41-0 out of eight targets. Wan’Dale Robinson had a representative game, nine looks but a 6-23-0 return. Darius Slayton, sadly, is probably not relevant here when everyone else is healthy. I wonder if a contending team would inquire about Slayton.

Other Week 6 booms and busts

Mixed bag for Lions’ fantasy assets

Not all of the Lions players came home during an entertaining 31-29 escape at Minnesota, but there were three players who made their mark. Jahmyr Gibbs stepped into a bigger rule and had 160 total yards and two scores — that’s good for 30 fantasy points and the RB1 tag as we go to press. Amon-Ra St. Brown also had his best game of the year, snagging all of his targets in an 8-112-1 performance. He’s quietly scored in four straight games, and he’s sitting WR1 with three games left on the Week 7 slate. Forever-underrated Jared Goff completed 22-of-25 passes for 280 yards and two scores. He did lose one fumble and took four sacks, the price of business against a Brian Flores defense. We’ll still take it.

It wasn’t a clean game for the other primary Detroit guys. David Montgomery lost a fumble and dealt with a knee injury, though he returned. His touchdown streak ended and his 12 touches managed a modest 70 yards. Sam LaPorta had one 25-yard catch but was only targeted one additional time. He’s not a featured part of this offense right now. Jameson Williams was also held down, just one target, a catch for negative yardage.

LaPorta is the trickiest kind of fantasy commodity, someone who’s too good to drop but not consistent enough to trust. I know the tight end position has been a mess all fall, but his managers at least need to try to find some sort of upside alternative.

Anthony Richardson struggles in return

Before the season, some pundits thought Anthony Richardson might be the QB1 in fantasy. In reality, he’s the second-best quarterback on his own team — and that’s behind Joe Flacco, a 39-year-old veteran who was presumed retired not long ago.

The Colts beat the Dolphins 16-10, they’ll take that. But Richardson still looked lost. He completed just 10-of-24 passes for a meager 129 yards, with no touchdowns. He had one 22-yard run but otherwise was contained on the ground, 14 totes for 56 yards. And with Richardson struggling, the Indianapolis passing game was a brick, too. Michael Pittman Jr. somehow got to 3-63-0 on five targets, but every other fantasy consideration in the receiver room was at 15 yards or fewer.

Tyler Goodson needed touchdown deodorant, but 14-51-1 on the ground will play in fantasy. He didn’t see any targets. Trey Sermon was more efficient with his work (nine touches, 49 yards), not that either player will make you forget Marshall Faulk or Edgerrin James. The Colts are desperate to get Jonathan Taylor back, especially with the schedule getting nasty. The next five weeks: Texans, Vikings, Bills, Jets, Lions.

Note: I’ll have additional Week 7 analysis later in the day.