Fantasy News & Analysis

NFL Week 17 Fantasy Football Recap: Philadelphia Eagles vs. New Orleans Saints

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown (11) makes a touchdown catch past New Orleans Saints cornerback Paulson Adebo (29) during the third quarter at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

A.J. Brown: 4 receptions, 97 yards, 1 touchdown

DeVonta Smith: 9 receptions, 115 yards


Jump to another recap:

ARZ@ATL | MIA@NE | NO@PHI | IND@NYGCAR@TB
DEN@KC | CHI@DET | CLE@WSH | JAX@HOU
SF@LVR
NYJ@SEA | MIN@GB | LAR@LAC | PIT@BAL


The Saints continue to make changes at wide receiver: Marquez Callaway started the season in a rotation with the Saints’ starting wide receivers. He was a healthy inactive in Week 17 despite some of the original starters being out for the season.

  • Undrafted rookie Rashid Shaheed has taken over as one of the starters alongside Chris Olave
  • Jarvis Landry was the third wide receiver, but he landed on season-ending injured reserve after Week 15. He’s an unrestricted free agent and might have played his last snap for New Orleans.
  • New Orleans decided to use Keith Kirkwood as its third wide receiver. He had gone back and forth from the practice squad and active roster all season but last saw offensive snaps in Week 6.
  • Eight different players were targeted in this game, but only two of them were wide receivers.
  • The Saints will again be in the worst salary cap situation this offseason. Michael Thomas could return to their starting lineup next season, but after him playing only 10 games in the past three seasons, New Orleans may release him. This could leave the third receiver spot wide open for the 2023 season.

The Eagles use a three-back committee: Boston Scott received significant playing time, primarily in the fourth quarter, making this a three-man committee at least for one game.

  • Kenneth Gainwell continued to play in clear passing situations as usual but barely received any snaps on early downs.
  • Miles Sanders was the primary early-down back in the first half, but the Eagles played only eight snaps on first and second downs outside of the two-minute drill in that half.
  • Scott started mixing in more in the second half as the Eagles attempted to pass to catch up.
  • This probably would be the Eagles' normal running back rotation when playing from behind, but we just haven’t experienced that situation much this season.
  • The backfield should return to normal when Philadelphia is close in a game or winning.


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.

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