Fantasy Football Notes: Philadelphia Eagles

To say the 2008 season was a roller coaster ride for the Philadelphia Eagles would be an understatement.

After going 5-5-1 over the first 12 weeks of the season, the Eagles had to turn it up a notch over the final five weeks in order to keep their playoff chances alive. Riding the hot hand of previously benched Donovan McNabb, the Eagles did just that as they won four of their final five games to backdoor themselves into the playoffs.

Needing to beat the Dallas Cowboys in the final week of the season, a fired up Philadelphia squad scored early and often en route to a 44-6 win and a meeting with the Minnesota Vikings in the Wild Card round.

The playoffs where no different as Philadelphia took care of Minnesota in the Wild Card round and the New York Giants in the Divisional round to set-up a meeting with the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC Championship game.

This marked the fifth time in 10 years that head coach Andy Reid has taken his squad to the NFC Championship game, but for the fourth time, they failed to reach the Super Bowl as they lost a shoot-out by the score of 32-25.

The three biggest fantasy football contributors were McNabb, Brian Westbrook and rookie DeSean Jackson. McNabb finished the season with 23 touchdown passes to just 11 interceptions, and his five total TD’s during the fantasy playoffs paid dividends to owners.

Westbrook was able to finish the season as a top-10 running back, but his statistics were skewed by four big games. Other than that, Westbrook played more as a RB2 and his nagging injuries forced fantasy owners to hit the panic button throughout the season.

The biggest surprise was Jackson, who took advantage of injuries at the wide receiver position to haul in 62 receptions for 912 yards and two touchdowns. Jackson was taken as a late round flier in most fantasy leagues only to see himself being used as a low-end WR2 by season’s end.

KEY ADDITIONS

Jason Peters (OL) & Stacy Andrews (OL): It’s not often that you lose two staples on your offensive line to free agency and during the same offseason, replace them with perennial Pro Bowlers.

However, this was the case in Philadelphia as the Eagles lost Tra Thomas and Jon Runyan to new teams only to make a trade with Buffalo for Jason Peters and sign free agent Stacy Andrews. Since entering the league five years ago Peters has made the Pro Bowl twice and you can make a case he’s been the best left tackle in all of football.

As for Andrews, he joins his brother Shawn in Philadelphia and should fill in adequately at right guard. Both of these moves should help the Eagles improve their 22nd ranked rushing offense of a year ago.

KEY DEPARTURE

L.J. Smith (TE): The loss of offensive lineman Jon Runyan and Tra Thomas are the biggest offseason departures in Philadelphia but neither of these guys has scored a fantasy football point during their career so they don’t make our list. 

As for Smith, he had worn out his welcome in Philadelphia and the timing was right for him to sign with the Baltimore Ravens. After a promising 2006 & 2007 season, Smith missed nine games since 2007 and never really found his groove with McNabb.

A sub-par postseason in 2008 and the emergence of back-up tight end Brent Celek was enough to convince the Eagles brass to part ways with their veteran tight end.

ROOKIES TO WATCH

Jeremy Maclin (WR): As a sophomore at the University of Missouri, Maclin had 102 receptions for 1,260 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns. Those numbers have caused him to enter the NFL with a lot of hype surrounding him.

Maclin was pegged as the best wide receiver in the draft by many scouts around the league, but an average combine saw him fall on draft day. With the 19th overall pick, the Eagles drafted Maclin and they expect him to be an impact player for years to come.

In many ways Maclin is a carbon copy of teammate DeSean Jackson—as both wide outs use their speed and athletic ability to beat defenders deep—but don’t expect him to duplicate the rookie success that Jackson saw last season. Reason being, Philadelphia has depth at the position and quarterback Donovan McNabb likes to get everyone involved in the offense.

LeSean McCoy (RB): No doubt about it the Eagles had arguably the best draft in the NFL this year and the drafting of McCoy with the 53rd pick is a large reason why. He will play second fiddle to Westbrook to start the season, but with Westbrook being injury prone expect McCoy to see a healthy amount of touches throughout the year.

The bruiser out of Pittsburgh averaged 4.8 yards per carry during his college career and if his 21 touchdown performance of 2008 is any indicator of his future success, dynasty owners should snag him early in their upcoming drafts.

BRUNO BOYS SPOTLIGHT

Brian Westbrook (RB): When healthy everyone will agree that Westbrook is one of the best fantasy football running backs in the NFL, but nagging injuries and durability issues forced him to miss two games last season and led to some inconsistencies in his play. Despite totaling 1,438 yards and scoring 14 touchdowns, many Westbrook owners would agree that he was a bit Jekyll & Hyde for their liking.

11 of his 14 TD’s came over four games and Westbrook had 15 or less carries in eight of his 14 games played.  Westbrook will enter this season as the clear-cut starter but with the Eagles looking towards the future, they did spend an early draft pick on a running back.

Don’t be surprised if we see a more balanced rushing attack in Philadelphia this season with Westbrook getting around 70 percent of the touches and LeSean McCoy or Lorenzo Booker taking the rest.


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