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Eagles Backfield Now? - Jay Ajayi to IR (1 Viewer)

Wendell Smallwood and Josh Adams are the only ones who are healthy. Corey Clement was active yesterday but didn’t play. Darren Sproles has a bad hammy could be back this week and Howie can do Howie things. So I am staying far away from anything Eagles RB.

 
You would think that a 2nd rounder wouldn’t seem that outlandish for Philly to pay for Bell. It should end up being a back half pick. Not sure if they have the cap. Those other backs are really not good. Probably surviveable but Bell can do everything that offense wants. 

 
Our Phil Alexander said this:

For now, Smallwood is the best pickup by default. Clement was active but didn't get a snap last week and Sproles is still nursing the hamstring. Long term, three way committee, but I would consider spending a high priority or 50%+ of FAAB on Smallwood if I needed a RB.

 
I said the exact same thing, I'm not an employee but if you spend 50% on Smallwood in a backfield still this muddy, you are wasting it. Just my thoughts.

 
Still a RBBC but whoever gets the most redzone snaps has decent value 

Edit: I agree that the pass game sees a boost

 
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Clement is almost healthy. If he can play this week, he can take the job. Sucks for the guy to get his shot and be hurting, but I think he plays Thursday night. 

 
Our Phil Alexander said this:

For now, Smallwood is the best pickup by default. Clement was active but didn't get a snap last week and Sproles is still nursing the hamstring. Long term, three way committee, but I would consider spending a high priority or 50%+ of FAAB on Smallwood if I needed a RB.
I think "for now" and "by default" are the key words.  If Clement was healthy, I'd say he would get the largest share of a 3-way committee.  But Smallwood has played better.  I don't know what the split will look like if/when CC is healthy.  And who knows what Sproles' workload will be like if/when he returns.  But yes, for now Smallwood would be the pick up.  Not sure if I'd put 50% of my FAAB on him though given the longer term uncertainty.

 
TRADE FOR BELL!

Just kidding. It's a mess. But even when it wasn't a mess, Peterson played 3 guys in the rotation.  So it's a fantasy black hole either way.

 
There’s not much to not like right now with Smallwood imo.  He’s averaging 6 yards per carry (25 for 150) with a td so far this year and has picked up another 96 yards on 10 receptions with another td. He plays behind probably the best line in the league, has Clement still there as legitimate competition but I doubt that will be a factor with the short week this week with Clement still nursing the quad. He may get a few touches Thursday night but didn’t get any Sunday, so I expect a heavy dose of Smallwood this week.  We’ll see what he can do with volume.

 
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We don't know what it looks like when it is Clement, Smallwood and Sproles who are splitting reps. Seeing as how Sproles hasn't even been able to turn in a practice since week 1 and I think it's fair to question whether or not he's just done. But it's obviously more likely that he comes back at some point and muddies the waters for at least some amount of time.

Smallwood will likely be ranked as a RB2 for this week, it depends on whether or not Clement/Sproles actually practice tomorrow.

But it's important to remember that Clement initially played through the quad injury and that it was serious despite the fact that essentially everyone tried to downplay it. Who knows how he would have performed in that game if he was healthy. And it's pretty crazy that despite the injury he was still utilized 20 times.

In the short-term I'd bet on Smallwood. In the long-term I'd bet on Clement. 

 
"Sun, Oct 7

Corey Clement played zero snaps in the Eagles' Week 5 loss to the Vikings.

Advice: Playing through a quad injury, Clement was announced as "active," but it was evidently only on an emergency basis. Clement will enter Thursday night's game against the Giants having not touched the ball since Week 3. Wendell Smallwood has been holding down the fort in his absence. Clement will need Jay Ajayi to go down to become truly fantasy relevant."

...aaand here we are...

 
Schefter reporting Fletcher Cox has restructured his contract to open $11mil next year. Happened Friday though so not in correlation with Ajayi. 

 
So Gunn seems to think the Eagles are going to go after David Johnson? Did the Cards just signed him to a nice extension just to trade him? I'm not buying that hot take, but the Bell is possible. I would say Ameer Abdullah, Tevin Coleman, LeSean McCoy, Carlos Hyde, Lamar Miller are only RBs I could see teams trading right now of relevance.

 
ESPN's Adam Schefter reports the Eagles "have not pursued a trade" for holdout Le'Veon Bell and "have no plans to do so."

Bell singled out the Eagles as a potential destination spot for himself when he spoke to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler last week, but the Eagles don't appear to be willing to pay the Steelers' asking price and then hand Bell a gargantuan contract. With Jay Ajayi done for the year with a torn ACL, the Eagles' initial plan looks to be to lean on Corey Clement and Wendell Smallwood. Oct 8 - 7:26 PM

Source: Adam Schefter on Twitter

 
Eagles are not getting Bell. It'll be Clement and Smallwood. Sproles will do Sproles things if he gets back. There will be games where the run is emphasized if the situation dictates it. Otherwise it's going to be Carson to Ertz, Alshon, Agholar and then Clement/Smallwood/Sproles. I don't like it but Carson is going to be throwing 40+ times a game. 

 
Eagles are not getting Bell. It'll be Clement and Smallwood. Sproles will do Sproles things if he gets back. There will be games where the run is emphasized if the situation dictates it. Otherwise it's going to be Carson to Ertz, Alshon, Agholar and then Clement/Smallwood/Sproles. I don't like it but Carson is going to be throwing 40+ times a game. 
I wonder if we'll see Adams' role increase a few touches as well.  Maybe 3-5?  Can he become a short-yardage guy?  He's 6'-2", 225 but he's gotta learn to run lower.

 
I’ve always liked Smallwood. I suspect RBBC, but Smallwood should have more value in PPR. Maybe standard too if he gets enough opportunity. 

 
It wasn’t that long ago that Smallwood was about to assume the feature back job before getting hurt in 2016, seeing the team sign Blount and Ajayi in 2017, and almost get cut this past offseason.

All that probably doesn’t matter anymore, but things change fast and Smallwood has been largely playing well. And unlike Ajayi, he gets used in the passing game.

Will be interesting to see what happens the next few weeks.

 
If DJ got traded to Philly it might not be that good for his fantasy outlook.  Would they actually feed him the ball, or would the other RBs there keep it a committee? 

 
If DJ got traded to Philly it might not be that good for his fantasy outlook.  Would they actually feed him the ball, or would the other RBs there keep it a committee? 
Exactly.  It's going to stay a committee.  It's just we don't know who is in it yet

 
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