The official snap counts from the Philadelphia Eagles’ Week 5 loss to the Denver Broncos are in. Let’s take a look and run through some analysis.
OFFENSE
- Jalen Hurts, Jordan Mailata, and Cam Jurgens are the only Eagles players to play 100% of the team’s offensive snaps this season.
- DeVonta Smith only missed one snap. He led all Eagles players in targets (10), receptions (8), and receiving yards (114).
- A.J. Brown was not on the field for four snaps. He saw the third-most targets (8), which resulted in the second-most receptions (5) but only the third-most receiving yards (43).
- Brett Toth filled in at left guard for Landon Dickerson, who got ruled out due to an ankle injury.
- Dallas Goedert ranked second in targets (9) but ranked tied for the third-most receptions (3) for just the fifth-most receiving yards (19). He did have a touchdown, giving him four in four games played this season. He’s already one away from tying his regular season career-high of five in one year (2019).
- Jahan Dotson played his second-highest snap count percentage of the season. His three targets resulted in one reception for 24 yards, which came on the Eagles’ final desperation drive where the Broncos’ defense was obviously playing soft underneath. Dotson almost had a pretty good sideline grab where he ultimately couldn’t keep two feet in.
- Saquon Barkley played his lowest snap count percentage of the season at 72%. The previous low was 79% in Week 1. Barkley only had six carries, which resulted in 30 rushing yards. But 17 of those yards (his longest run of the season) came on one play with the other five producing just 13 yards. He did have three receptions for 58 yards, of which 47 came on his wheel route touchdown reception.
- Kylen Granson saw more playing time than Cameron Latu this week, which was probably related to Grant Calcaterra leaving the game early due to an oblique injury.
- A.J. Dillon has made the most of his limited opportunities this season with 11 carries for 58 yards (5.3 average).
- Will Shipley has one carry for zero yards and one reception for four yards since returning from injury last week. He did have a nice kickoff return in the fourth quarter.
- John Metchie continues to play a very small role as WR4.
- Latu was TE4. He most played on special teams, where he continues to stand out.
DEFENSE
- Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, Reed Blankenship, and Zack Baun are the only Eagles players to play 100% of the team’s defensive snaps this season.
- The defense playing 74 snaps just isn’t ideal and is directly related to the offense being unable to stay on the field.
- Andrew Mukuba played 100% of the Eagles’ defensive snaps for the second week in a row. He’s clearly cemented himself over Sydney Brown, who didn’t even play on defense.
- Jalen Carter played the third-highest snap count of his career and 10th-highest snap count percentage of his career (including playoffs). Despite the extra opportunities, he didn’t make a big-time impact.
- Kelee Ringo started over Adoree’ Jackson despite the latter being healthy enough to suit up. The Broncos clearly went after Ringo more than the Tampa Bay Buccaneers did in Week 4 … and had some success doing so. Jackson played a single defensive snap late in the game on 3rd-and-8 with Ringo not on the field. Was that a benching?
- Jalyx Hunt played his second-lowest snap count percentage of the season … yet led all Eagles edge rushers in playing time.
- Jordan Davis has been more quiet over the past two weeks after a very loud first three weeks.
- Azeez Ojulari was a healthy scratch for the Eagles’ first four games this season. He only got on the field in Week 5 because both Nolan Smith and Ogbo Okoronkwo were placed on injured reserve. Despite this, Ojulari tied for the second-most edge rusher snaps and made a positive impact at times. His first career defensive snap with the Eagles resulted in a TFL and he later had a quarterback hit on Bo Nix to forced a third down incompletion. The Eagles’ pass rush has largely been underwhelming but maybe playing Ojulari more could actually help? The fact he didn’t play any special teams snaps speaks to why he previously wasn’t active as a depth player.
- Za’Darius Smith tied for EDGE2 playing time in this game. He had a full sack to give him 1.5 on the season. The other Eagles edge rushers have combined for zero sacks.
- Joshua Uche is the Eagles’ top-graded defender by Pro Football Focus this season. They’ve credited him with 12 pressures on 74 pass rush snaps. Those pressures are classified as “hurries,” however, which are pretty subjective. They have Uche down with zero QB hits and zero sacks.
- Byron Young got banged up late in the game.
- Patrick Johnson was EDGE5 in this game.
- Ty Robinson played a single defensive snap after playing two defensive snaps last week.
SPECIAL TEAMS
- This was Sydney Brown’s first game with zero defensive snaps played this season.
- Cal Adomitis didn’t seem to struggle in his first game as the Eagles’ new long snapper.
- Did the Eagles really need to trade two draft picks for Tank Bigsby, who has yet to play an offensive snap since joining the team? His kick returns have resulted in just a 21.4 average thus far.
DID NOT PLAY
INACTIVE: Sam Howell, Mac McWilliams, Drew Kendall, Xavier Gipson
ACTIVE: Tanner McKee
- McWilliams was a healthy scratch for the first time this season.
- Would like to see Gipson get a chance to return kicks sooner than later. Why continue to use a roster spot on him otherwise?
- Speaking of, the Eagles still do have one open spot.