The Read Option, Week 15: Philadelphia Eagles @ Seattle Seahawks

The Read-Option is Adam Pfeifer’s weekly fantasy football game-by-game breakdown, covering everything a fantasy manager needs to know before setting or building lineups for the week. Below, check out his breakdown of the Philadelphia Eagles and Seattle Seahawks game for Week 15.

Week 15 Fantasy Football Breakdown: Philadelphia Eagles @ Seattle Seahawks

8:15 p.m. ET Monday, ESPN (announcers: Joe Buck and Troy Aikman)
PHI -4, O/U 47.5
Pace: PHI: 27.3 sec/snap (19th), SEA: 26.0 sec/snap (7th)

FTN Data Breakdown

• The Eagles are allowing 16.6 fantasy points per game to opposing pass-catchers from the slot, the most in the league.
• DK Metcalf has a 32.8% target share against man coverage this season.
• In his return last week, Kenneth Walker played 58% of the snaps and handled 47% of Seattle’s rush attempts.
• Dallas Goedert ran a route on 93% of dropbacks in his return Sunday night.

Quarterback

The Eagles are coming off consecutive brutal games against San Francisco and Dallas. Jalen Hurts and the offense failed to score a touchdown last week, and it was the first time since Week 1 where he failed to finish as a QB1 in fantasy. Hurts is still averaging the second-most fantasy points per dropback (0.62), and his 13 rushing attempts inside the 5-yard line are tied for the second most in football. Since Week 10, Seattle’s defense has struggled a bit, ranking 30th in the league in EPA per play, while also ranking 29th in EPA per dropback. During that span, Seattle is also coughing up two passing touchdowns per game.

Running Back

With the Eagles playing from behind, D’Andre Swift has struggled over the last two weeks, totaling 59 scrimmage yards on 19 touches. Even when games are close, Philadelphia has been so quick to abandon the run. But this should be a good get right spot for him — Seattle’s run defense has been struggling lately, allowing 159.3 rushing yards per game over the last three weeks, the most in the league. And for the season, Seattle is coughing up the third-most yards after contact per rush attempt (2.53). In a much better matchup with Philadelphia definitely not trailing by 20-plus, Swift remains a RB2 with upside here.

Wide Receiver

A.J. Brown is obviously a must-start wideout. Although it felt like he struggled last week, he still finished with 94 yards on nine receptions, while seeing 13 targets for the second consecutive week. The Seahawks have really struggled to defend outside wide receivers as of late and over the course of the season are allowing the second-most fantasy points (15.7), most targets (7.6) and fifth-most receiving yards (60.9) to opposing wideouts on the right side of the formation, which is where Brown lines up 42% of the time. 

Meanwhile, DeVonta Smith was still pretty productive with Dallas Goedert back last week, catching 5-of-10 targets for 73 yards. His day could have been great, but he just missed a long touchdown and he lost a fumble. Smith has been better against zone defense this year, sporting a 26.4% target share against zone and a 23.1% target share against man coverage. Seattle, meanwhile, deploys zone coverage 66% of the time, the fifth-highest rate in the league.

Tight End

Dallas Goedert returned to the lineup last week, logging 84% of the snaps and running a route on 93% of dropbacks. Over the course of the season, a lot of Goedert’s metrics are down but he’s still a top-eight tight end for me, especially against a Seattle defense that is allowing the 10th-most receiving yards per game to opposing tight ends.

Quarterback

Geno Smith missed last week’s game with a groin injury. We’ll see if he can return this week — if he remains sidelined, it’ll once again be Drew Lock under center for the Seahawks. He was solid against San Francisco last week and would be an interesting QB2 for those who need help this week. Philadelphia is allowing the most fantasy points per game to opposing signal callers this season, while 73.4% of the yardage against this defense has come through the air, the fourth-highest rate in football. Meanwhile, only Washington is allowing a higher passing touchdown rate than the Eagles (5.6%).

Running Back

We saw Kenneth Walker back in the lineup last week, the first time Walker and Zach Charbonnet were in the backfield together since Week 11. Walker played 58% of the snaps and handled 47% of the rush attempts, recording 12 touches. Charbonnet, meanwhile, played 40% of the snaps, handled 53% of the rush attempts and recorded 10 touches. We’ll see if the usage changes this weekend, but if Seattle is going to continue playing both running backs, Walker and Charbonnet might be looking more like flex options, even though Philadelphia’s run defense has looked much more vulnerable lately. 

Wide Receiver

DK Metcalf is in a great spot here regardless of who is under center for Seattle. The Eagles are surrendering 85.9 receiving yards per game to opposing lead wide receivers, the fourth most in the league, while also allowing 12.1 fantasy points per game to opposing wideouts on the left side of the formation (seventh most), which is where Metcalf lines up nearly 60% of the time. He also has a 32.8% target share against man coverage this season, while averaging 1.67 fantasy points per target against the defense. The Eagles run man coverage 34% of the time this year, the sixth-highest rate in football. 

Tyler Lockett remains a WR3, though I also really like this spot for Jaxon Smith-Njigba. His usage and involvement has been a lot more consistent as of late, as the rookie has run a route on almost 80% of dropbacks over his last five games. Playing from the slot 70% of the time, JSN gets a great matchup with a Philadelphia secondary that is coughing up a league-worst 16.6 fantasy points per game to opposing pass-catchers from the slot this season. He had 11 targets against Dallas two weeks back, a defense that also runs man coverage at a top-six rate in the league. 

Tight End

No thank you.