Jason

Avant

Avant appears destined to a No. 5 receiver role in Philadelphia unless injuries strike. He reportedly looked great in practice today, so his knee isn’t bothering him anymore.

Avant outperformed veteran Jabar Gaffney at early workouts but an injury could keep him buried on the Eagles wide receiver depth chart.

Justice is off to a slow career start. Greg Lewis, Ryan Moats, and Bruce Perry are all active. Hank Baskett should be the team’s third receiver.

Smith’s playing time is rising as he’s working his way into game shape. However, he’ll have to pass Jason Avant for the full-time slot job to be worth anything at all in fantasy. That’s unlikely to happen anytime soon as the Eagles have an extremely high trust level in Avant.

Avant’s four targets were three fewer than he received in Week 1. Although he remains ahead of Steve Smith on the depth chart for the time being, it’s likely only a matter of time before the former Giants, who has looked healthy the past two weeks, surpasses him.

Avant let Jairus Byrd rip the ball away from him at the end of a 35-yard catch in the third quarter before allowing Nick Barnett do the same with just 1:49 remaining in the fourth. Both turnovers were devastating for an Eagles team attempting to erase a 28-7 third-quarter deficit. Avant has now hauled in 15 passes for 208 yards on 18 targets the past two weeks, but it’s a safe bet he’ll be deemphasized in Week 6 after the display he put on today.

This is certainly no shocker. Avant was targeted just twice. His 110 yards on eight receptions and 14 targets in Week 12 were the result of Vince Young dumping off after falling behind big to the Patriots. This is a pattern that has followed Avant his entire career. He follows up fluky breakout games with disappointing production the next week.

A nice bounce-back effort after Avant was held to three catches and 28 yards in Week 6. Now averaging 4.4 catches and 58.9 yards on 6.1 targets, Avant is beginning to look like a legitimate bench option in standard leagues.

Typically one of Michael Vick’s favorite safety valves, Avant was targeted just two times by backup Vince Young. After averaging 5.4 catches for 68.6 yards in Weeks 3-8, Avant has hauled in just four catches for 35 yards in his past three games. He’s back off the fantasy radar.

The catch nearly went for a TD, but with just three catches in the last two weeks his role is in question. It’s likely that Brent Celek’s emergence over that span has made his skills redundant, and he’s miscast on the outside due to his lack of separation skills. With Jeremy Maclin’s (shoulder, hamstring) status in doubt, it’s possible he’ll get more snaps but whether or not that equates production is up for debate.