The Philadelphia Eagles are banged up, and Nelson Agholor is in position to make the most of his opportunities. The Eagles should have one of the NFL’s best passing attacks as long as Carson Wentz stays healthy, but the unit is going to be missing several key players on Week 3’s contest. Agholor has proven capable of handling a big role in the past, and the fifth-year receiver has a favorable matchup against the Detroit Lions. If you have him on your team, make sure to throw him in your starting lineup.
Fantasy Football: Start Nelson Agholor
As of this posting, it looks like DeSean Jackson and Alshon Jeffery are going to miss Week 3’s matchup against the Detroit Lions. Normally, both these players are ahead of Agholor on the depth chart and account for a sizeable percentage of the targets. However, with both players gone, somebody other than Zach Ertz is going to need to catch passes for the Eagles.
Look for that person to be none other than Agholor. Jackson and Jeffery went down midway through Week 2’s action, and Agholor immediately become the go-to wide receiver. In total, Agholor finished the night with eight receptions for 107 yards and a touchdown on 11 targets, but he could have had a lot more. In the waning minutes of the game, Wentz found Agholor deep down the sideline for what would have been a huge touchdown. Unfortunately, Agholor dropped the pass.
Outside of Ertz, the Eagles don’t have another reliable healthy weapon in the passing game. Rookie wide receiver J.J. Arcega-Whiteside has plenty of promise, but the rookie is still adjusting to the NFL game. Ditto for Miles Sanders, as the rookie second-round pick hasn’t been much of a receiving threat through the first two games. Second-string tight end Dallas Goedert suffered a calf injury of his own and might not play in Week 3. If he does, he’ll probably be limited.
Agholor’s Favorable Matchup
Even if Jackson and Jeffery were healthy, Nelson Agholor had the chance to be fantasy relevant in Week 3. The Eagles are going up against a Detroit Lions defense which simply cannot stop anybody out of the slot. In Week 1, the unit allowed Larry Fitzgerald to record eight catches for 113 yards and one touchdown while working primarily out of the slot. One week later, the Lions gave up eight receptions for 98 yards to Allen, who spent a decent amount of time in the slot. He would have had more yardage had Darius Slay not committed multiple penalties while lined up against Allen in the slot.
So far this season, Nelson Agholor has played 65.1% of his snaps in the slot. This is more or less consistent with his career norms. The Detroit Lions have a solid defense, but they can’t stop anything out of the slot. Agholor is one of the NFL’s better slot receivers, so he should see a large share of the targets. Doug Pederson is a brilliant offensive mind, and he won’t let a matchup this favorable go to waste.
The stars have aligned for Nelson Agholor to have a huge game in Week 3. Seemingly half the team is injured, and Agholor is the best healthy receiver on the roster. Carson Wentz is still healthy, and he can’t possibly target Zach Ertz 30 times in a game. When factoring Agholor’s opportunity with Detroit’s inability to stop slot receivers, don’t be surprised if Agholor dramatically outperforms his projection.
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