The Eagles have ruled out Jeremy Maclin for Sunday's game against the Cardinals with a hip pointer. So what does this mean for your fantasy team?
Unfortunately, not a lot. We saw last night that the 5 people smart enough to pick up Ramses Barden were rewarded handsomely, but it doesn't seem likely that the Eagles will have a similar backup step in for Maclin.
The Eagles #3 WR is Jason Avant, but for the most part, he's strictly a slot guy. So I would not expect his role to change very much. He could get some more targets, but not the extent you'd really start him in any normal league.
The guy that is most likely to directly benefit from Maclin's absence is rookie Damaris Johnson, who will start on the outside in his place. However, Andy Reid said today that he plans to "mix and match" his WRs in Maclin's absence. That means Johnson will see snaps, but Avant may see some in 2 WR sets as well. Mardy Gilyard, who the Eagles picked up last week and had played well for them in preseason, may get a few looks as well.
The guy most likely to see increased targets in the absence of Maclin is probably TE Brent Celek. After his monster game last week, you're probably starting him already. It may be interesting to see whether the Eagles run more 2 TE sets to get backup TE Clay Harbor more involved in the passing game. He had a strong preseason and caught the game winning TD in week 1.
This injury may also alter your view of DeSean Jackson. Maclin's absence all but guarantees that Patrick Peterson will shadow DeSean Jackson for the entire game Sunday. So his opportunities could be limited.
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