Thursday night football: Commanders vs. Eagles fantasy football breakdown

You can watch Thursday Night Football: Commanders vs. Eagles at 8:20 PM ET/5:20 PM PT on Amazon Prime Video.

Whoooo, boy – if last week’s divisional matchup is any indication of what we’ll get tonight, we’re in for another crunching TNF match. Two of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in the league will start tonight when Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders take on Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles.

Let’s go to the story of the tape.

Finally – FINALLY – Terry McLaurin has the QB play to make him (yet more of) a superstar

Those of us who know an elite wide receiver when we see one know how good it feels to see Terry McLaurin have the best season of his career. Even if you don’t have him on your fantasy lineup, it’s wonderful to see him finally leave the QB wilderness, and the trade has already made itself evident.

McLaurin is third in the NFL in receiving yardage, third in touchdown catches and fifth in total fantasy points. And yes, those are pretty surface-level stats. Want to go under the hood? Of course – I’ll let Andy Behrens take the wheel:

The Eagles’ secondary has been much improved of late, but they will have their work cut out for them trying to slow down the Daniels-McLaurin connection. Scary Terry is a clear WR1 for this game and for the rest of the season.

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Does DeVonta Smith have a hidden trend this season?

Few receivers have been as consistent as Smith has this season. He is averaging 6.25 targets and 61 yards per game and has scored four times. He started the season with three straight double-digit fantasy point outings before missing Week 4 with an injury. Then the Eagles had a bye in Week 5 and Smith returned to posting, you guessed it, double digits in Week 6.

But then Smith only had one catch for negative-one yards in Week 7.

Smith followed that up with his best outing of the year in Week 8 and his third-best in Week 9.

And then two catches for 14 yards against Dallas last week.

Hey, I get it – even the best receivers have some dumbfounding stat lines. But there’s actually something interesting about the two disappointing games Smith has had this season: both of those games were blowouts.

As good as Smith is, we have to admit: he’s the third option on offense. Saquon Barkley and AJ Brown MUST touch the ball as much as possible, and that’s not even mentioning Jalen Hurts at running back and Dallas Goedert at tight end. But it’s still interesting to see that in competitive games Smith has seen his number called a lot more than he has in the two games the Eagles have crushed their opponents.

Smith is likely an auto starter in most leagues. But compare his output tonight to his upcoming game against the Rams, or his output in Week 13 vs. Ravens with his output in Week 14 against the Panthers.

It might be a trend you can take advantage of.

Can we trust another Commander receiver?

Noah Brown, Dyami Brown, Zach Ertz, Luke McCaffrey, Olamide Zaccheaus – do any of these guys have any fantasy juice, for this game or the future?

Spoiler alert: probably not.

Noah Brown is probably second in the wide receiver corps in targets and catches, but that’s 28 and 22 less than McLaurin, respectively. Ertz is second on the team overall in goals and catches, but he’s been more of a chain-mover than anything else, not a consistent weekly starter at the position. Dyami Brown, McCaffrey and Zaccheaus have mostly been bit players in this offense, with the occasional big play thrown in.

McCaffrey — and, to a lesser extent, rookie tight end Ben Sinnott — haven’t taken the expected step forward that we usually see from first-year players at this point in the season. Maybe it’s because the Commanders have their bye week in Week 14, but it’s a little surprising. Perhaps we’ll see both talented rookies receive more work in this all-important game, but that’s probably not something to bet on.

All of which is to say that Daniels has been incredible when you consider that he really only has one elite option in the passing game. Fantasy managers love to see concentrated offensive trees, but I doubt any of us would say no to another starting option in this passing game, whether it’s to boost Daniels’ floor or to share in the results , if someone shows up. Let’s see if anything pops up in this game.

START: Austin Ekeler

Obviously, if Brian Robinson Jr. were to miss a third game in a row, you would start Ekeler unless you have an embarrassment of riches in your lineup or you play in a very low league.

I say start Ekeler even with BRob ready to play tonight.

Ekeler has been fantastic the last two weeks in BRob’s place and has shown juice and power in the race. But he has also had his own independent value when both backs have been active this season. Ekeler is tied for 13th in the league with 4 rushes of 20+ yards and is averaging 5.2 yards per carry. carry this season. He’s also eighth in the league in receiving yards among running backs, showing that the dual-threat talent that made him a fantasy star with the Chargers hasn’t disappeared.

Yes, Robinson has been cleared to play tonight, apparently because of the hamstring strain that has kept him out the past two games. But with the Commanders looking toward a potential playoff hope, it would be appropriate to use both of their talented backs and split the work to keep both fresh and cast different looks on the Eagles’ defense. And even if BRob plays a full allocation of snaps, Ekeler’s skills will be needed as another weapon for Daniels in what could be a back-and-forth slugfest. Ekeler is a solid flex play this week.