The Philadelphia Eagles finally got the DeMarco Murray breakout game they were waiting for and moving forward fantasy owners should be confident in starting Murray over Ryan Mathews and Darren Sproles behind Sam Bradford. The Eagles offense looks like it is finally clicking and players like Zach Ertz, Jordan Matthews and Nelson Agholor could be sleeper options in fantasy for Week 6.
The Eagles signed Murray in the offseason to a big contract and over the first two games he played he only had 11 yards and that led the running back to complain about his touches. Murray had eight carries for 36 yards against the Redskins after missing Week 3 and in Week 5 he had his best game of the season, going for over 100 total yards and rushing for 83 yards on 20 carries. Murray had 27 touches in the game and if that keeps up, Murray may finally be able to bank on the expectations he had coming into the season.
Chip Kelly likes using all three of his running backs in Murray, Ryan Mathews and Darren Sproles, but Murray is still considered to be the lead back. The team is going up against the Giants this week and that is a solid matchup, as New York has been playing better defense over their three game winning streak. Murray now has 130 yards rushing and two touchdowns to go along with 18 catches for 113 yards and he should continue getting more touches over Mathews and Sproles if he can stay consistent.
Sam Bradford had a strong game with 333 yards and two touchdowns in Week 5 and moving forward he should give a boost to players like Jordan Matthews and Zach Ertz for fantasy owners. Ertz had five catches for 60 yards last week and now has 15 catches for 164 yards this season, while Matthews had five catches for 44 yards last week. Matthews has put up strong numbers this season with 30 catches for 325 yards and one TD in five games.
The Eagles defense played well against the Saints last week and that resulted in Fletcher Cox winning the NFC Player of the Week award. The team was expecting the defense to be strong against the run this season and the secondary was expected to be one of the best in the league, but early on the unit struggled. Things are coming together now and Cox made a major impact last week, recording three sacks and also adding a fumble recovery in the game. The team held the Saints to 17 points and earned a victory to improve to 2-3 on the season and now they are behind the 3-2 Giants in the division standings.
The Eagles have been dealing with some offensive line injuries and the team made a move on Tuesday to bring in another player to the mix. According to Pro Football Talk, the team has signed Tanner Hawkinson from the 49ers practice squad and released Julian Vandervelde to make room. Hawkinson comes in after being a fifth round pick for the Bengals back in 2013 and he was later cut by the team after the preseason and signed with the 49ers after that.