Preseason Week 3 Fantasy Football Game Recap: Indianapolis Colts vs. Philadelphia Eagles

• Deon Jackson could be a Week 1 starter: Jackson started for the second straight preseason game and could be in a position to start two weeks from now.

• Josh Downs is unsurprisingly a starter: The third-round rookie appeared to be the leader among the slot receivers last week and this week got to play with the starters tonight.

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Deon Jackson starts for the second straight week: Jackson appears to be in the lead for the Colts' backup job.

• Jackson took every snap with the Colts starters over the first two drives, which ended with a 3-yard touchdown run.
• Evan Hull, who started the first preseason game, took over on the third drive. His drive also ended in a touchdown run.
• Jackson rejoined the starters for Indianapolis’ fourth and fifth drives, splitting time with Hull.
• Veteran Kenyan Drake signed with the Colts three weeks ago and played in the first quarter last week, but he didn’t receive a snap with the starters tonight.
• Jake Funk received his first snaps on offense before Drake, which puts Drake on the roster bubble.
• Jonathan Taylor has been given permission to explore a trade and is still on the PUP list, while Zack Moss remains out with a broken arm.
• This means Jackson could be the Week 1 starter for Indianapolis.

Josh Downs starts for the Colts: Downs was the slot receiver with the first-team offense.

• Indianapolis stayed in 11 personnel for nearly every snap over the first three drives. Downs took 100% of the snaps out of 11 personnel and didn’t take a snap out of 12 personnel.
• It seemed clear that he would start in the slot last week. Indianapolis didn’t play their primary starters, but Downs played in the first quarter last week while his primary competition, Isaiah McKenzie, didn’t start playing until late in the second quarter.
• McKenzie played in this game, but not until the second half with the backups.
• We can expect Downs to get significant playing time for the Colts in Week 1 and beyond.

Multiple Colts tight ends make their preseason debuts: Both Drew Ogletree and Mo Alie-Cox took their first snaps of the preseason.

• Indianapolis used a three-man rotation with Mo Alie-Cox, Kylen Granson and Jelani Woods last season. Ogletree was a sixth-round pick who was on a trajectory to be in that rotation before he tore his ACL, costing him his rookie season.
• Granson was the only one of the four to play this preseason. He started the first game and was among the key players who sat out in Week 2.
• How the Colts use their tight ends this season is particularly interesting because they have a new coaching staff. They’ve tended to have talented players in recent seasons, but the constant rotation of players has made it impossible to trust anyone for fantasy football purposes.
• Ogletree started the game. He either led the team in offensive snaps on each of the first three drives with the starters or was tied. Granson wasn’t far behind.
• Alie-Cox was a clear third on the depth chart tonight, although he also received snaps with the starters. He had just returned to practice on Wednesday, so his limited snaps in practice could have contributed to his playing time.
• Woods has the most upside of the tight ends, but he has missed the entire preseason with a hamstring injury.
• The goal was for one tight end to emerge in Indianapolis, but it instead looks like we could be stuck with another rotation. It’s too early to be sure until Woods is back and fully healthy.

The Eagles are likely keeping all four running backs: Philadelphia rested their starters and key backups, which included all four running backs fighting for the starting job.

• D’Andre Swift, Kenneth Gainwell, Boston Scott and Rashaad Penny all had the game off.
• The preseason gave us little indication of how they will be used outside of Penny being the likely fourth on the depth chart.
• Swift, Gainwell and Scott all sat out two of three games and received single-digit snaps in the one game they did play. Penny played 33 snaps over two games.
• The running back rotation with the starters was always one player playing several snaps and their night was done, giving no indication of the situations in which any of the backs might be used.
• How the Eagles use their running backs in Week 1 might be the biggest highlight of the fantasy recap for that game.

Miscellaneous Notes

• The Philadelphia Eagles also rested wide receivers A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Quez Watkins, Olamide Zaccheaus, Britain Covey and tight ends Dallas Goedert, Jack Stoll and Grant Calcaterra. Only one or two of the running backs, wide receivers and tight ends who played today may make the team.
• Colts star wide receiver Michael Pittman limped off the field early in the second quarter and missed a play, but he was back in on the following drive. It’s pretty safe to assume he will be okay, considering they brought him back during a preseason game, but it’s still worth monitoring.
• When Pittman went down, Breshad Perriman took his place. When Alec Pierce needed some plays off, Juwann Winfree came in for him. Not many teams have specific backup wide receivers for their specific starters on the outside, but this could be one of those situations. 

Table Notes

• Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. The other three stats have these plays removed.

• Targets may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy would be from a clear thrown-away pass, where the NFL may give the target to the nearest receiver, while this data will not.

• Carries are only on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles won’t count for the total number of carries in the game.