The Philadelphia Eagles saw DeMarco Murray have a breakout game on Sunday and in Week 6 he is a strong fantasy football start option over Ryan Mathews for Sam Bradford. Chip Kelly has his team trending in the right direction and just like last year, Kelly's name has come up in connection to college jobs, including at USC, Maryland and South Carolina.
Murray and the Eagles offense struggled over the first few weeks of the season, but the unit had a breakout game against the Saints on Sunday. Murray previously complained about the amount of touches he was getting and Kelly rectified that situation on Sunday, giving Murray his highest total touches since coming to the Eagles. Murray had just 11 yards in two games to start the season, but he busted out with over 100 total yards on 27 touches in the game.
Mathews and Darren Sproles remain solid fantasy options for owners, but Murray is considered to be the "lead dog" of the group and should have the most touches again in Week 6. The Giants defense has been playing better over the past few weeks, but the team can have issues sometimes defending the run and the Eagles will try to exploit that. Murray now has 130 rushing yards this season along with 18 catches out of the backfield. Murray had 20 carries last week for 83 yards and he also added seven catches against the Saints.
Mathews remains a viable fantasy option for owners as an RB2 or RB3 pick and Sproles is a must start in PPR leagues. Sproles also has some added value as a return man. Mathews comes in leading the team in rushing with 203 yards and despite Murray having a big game last week, Mathews also put up solid numbers with 73 yards rushing and three catches for 23 yards. Mathews made it into the endzone against the Saints and now has three total touchdowns this season.
Bradford also looked much better last week and was very sharp against the Saints, completing 32 of his 45 throws for 333 yards and two touchdowns. Bradford now has eight touchdowns on the season with 1281 passing yards and he is completing 63 percent of his passes, which would be a career high if it holds close to that number this season.
Kelly's name has come up in connection with college jobs again and while the Eagles head coach has dumped some water on those rumors (again), many in the media speculate he will be an option for the high profile openings at Maryland, USC and South Carolina. Kelly previously was connected to Florida, Texas and Tennessee in the past, but said he was not interested in making the move.
According to Pro Football Talk, Kelly said "no" when asked if any of the colleges with openings have contacted him or his agent about jobs. Fox Sports, Paul Finebaum at ESPN as well as CBS college football analyst Dennis Dodd all have mentioned Kelly as a top target for jobs, although it seems unlikely that he will leave the NFL for college at this point. Don Markus of the Baltimore Sun wrote this week that Maryland also could be targeting Kelly as a head coach option after the school fired Randy Edsall.
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