Jalen Hurts Fantasy Outlook Explodes as Eagles Starting QB With Carson Wentz Benched

The time has come. Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson has reportedly benched quarterback Carson Wentz in favor of rookie QB Jalen Hurts for Week 14.

This obviously crushes what little fantasy football value Wentz had, and it gives Hurts a very intriguing fantasy outlook.

Jalen Hurts Fantasy Outlook

Hurts will inherit some of the problems that have plagued Wentz. The Eagles' receiving corps is still weak. Their offensive line is the same unit that allowed Wentz to be sacked 50 times (and Hurts 3 times in Week 13). But Hurts' skillset still gives him some very interesting upside.

Hurts was a dual threat in college, and his mobility and rushing upside look like they'll translate well to the NFL level.

When he played half a game in relief of Wentz against the Green Bay Packers, Hurts threw for a middling 109 yards with 1 TD and 1 interception on 5-of-12 passing. He added 29 yards on 5 carries, however.

Rushing stats are like a cheat code for fantasy football quarterbacks. While adding 50-ish yards on the ground may not seem like a lot, in standard scoring leagues it takes 125 passing yards to match those 5.0 fantasy points. And every rushing touchdown is worth 1.5 the fantasy points of a passing touchdown.

That means if Hurts can even be serviceable through the air, he could be a league-winning QB in the fantasy football playoffs, making him worth a waiver wire add immediately.

You probably won't want to start him against the New Orleans Saints this weekend, but after that he closes the fantasy season with matchups against the Arizona Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys.

The Cardinals (13th most) and Cowboys (10th most) are both allowing above-average fantasy production to opposing QBs this year, making them just the kind of matchups you want to see for Hurts in the semi-finals and championship weeks for fantasy football.

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Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.