Jalen Hurts moves into fantasy relevance as he steps in for Carson Wentz
Jalen Hurts is replacing Carson Wentz as the Eagles starting quarterback, but is he a worthy replacement for someone on your fantasy playoff roster?
The writing was on the wall with the change during last Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers, but now it’s official. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Jalen Hurts will start under center for the Philadelphia Eagles against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.
Hurts came in during the third quarter of Week 13 against the Packers. He completed 5 of 12 passes for 109 yards with a touchdown and an interception, while adding 29 yards on five carries (10.26 fantasy points; Yahoo! scoring).
Wentz went just 6-for-15 for 79 yards before being mercifully benched, with 18 rushing yards. As Rotoworld cited, Hurts had 138 yards of total offense in 22 minutes of game time to 97 yards in 38 minutes for Wentz.
Is Jalen Hurts a viable fantasy quarterback now?
In his first NFL start, it will not be easy for Hurts. The Saints are on track to exit Week 13 allowing the third-fewest fantasy points to quarterbacks (Yahoo! scoring), and they’ll be a top-five unit against opposing signal callers regardless.
Even leaving out not facing a pro quarterback in Week 12 against the Denver Broncos, they’ve allowed zero or one touchdown pass in the other four of their last five games. In a more traditional sense, the Saints are No. 2 in the league against the run and No. 4 against the pass.
With the help of five rushing touchdowns, Wentz has been a top-15 fantasy quarterback this year. So it’s not out of the question for Hurts to match that level over the final 3-4 weeks of the season.
Hurts completed nearly 70 percent of his passes for 3,851 yards with 32 touchdowns and eight interceptions in 2019 at Oklahoma. In two season of significant action at Alabama, he completed close to 62 percent of his passes with 40 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. So he can capably throw the ball.
However, Hurts’ best path to fantasy production over the rest of the season will be with his legs. The Eagles’ offense will surely change to accommodate quick reads behind a bad offensive line, and Hurts should be encouraged to take opportunities to run. Last year at Oklahoma, he ran for 1,298 yards with 20 touchdowns.
And as a freshman at Alabama in 2016, he had 954 rushing yards and 13 scores on the ground.
As long as he keeps the starting job, and why wouldn’t he unless he’s injured against the Saints, it will get easier for Hurts in Week 15 and Week 16. The Arizona Cardinals (Week 15) and the Dallas Cowboys (Week 16) will both enter Week 14 in the bottom half of the league in fantasy points allowed to quarterbacks.
The Cardinals will have allowed the fourth-most rushing yards to quarterbacks through Week 13 (316; 26.3 yards per game), unless Lamar Jackson runs for like 165 yards against the Cowboys on Tuesday night.
Outside of two-quarterback leagues (as a QB2), Hurts can’t be plugged into fantasy lineups with a lot of confidence in Week 14. But Week 15 and Week 16 look more promising, and at the very least the rookie signal caller is an intriguing waiver wire add. His ownership rates will rise pretty dramatically this week, but just how much will be interesting to see.
Hurts Yahoo! ownership: 3%
Hurts ESPN Ownership: 1.4%