Who Should I Start? A.J. Brown or Brock Purdy

Wednesday, January 7, 10:09 AM

Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown really took fantasy managers for a roller coaster ride in the 2025 regular season. For the first 11 weeks of the season, including the Eagles' Week 10 bye, Brown scored three or fewer fantasy points in three of those 10 games played. However, from Week 11 on, which was seven games played for him, he had 595 receiving yards and four touchdowns. On the season as a whole, Brown eclipsed 1,000 yards with 1,003 and seven touchdowns, finishing as the WR14. Although frustrating given his second-round ADP coming into the season, he was much better in the second half than in the first, and the Eagles are hoping that carries into the playoffs to help them make a run. From a playoff fantasy perspective, the Eagles have the third-best odds, according to Novig (+465), to win the NFC, and are favorites (-4.5) against the San Francisco 49ers in Wild Card weekend. What this means is that fantasy managers drafting for these leagues may want to invest in Eagles players, such as Brown, as they have a better chance of continuing to score points as the team goes deeper into the playoffs. The 49ers' defense has been horrible against receivers of late, making Brown an excellent round one play.

Wednesday, January 7, 5:11 PM

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy was shut down in the regular-season finale by the Seattle Seahawks, throwing for a season-low 127 yards with one interception and his only game this season without a touchdown. Purdy suffered a stinger on the final play of the game, but he is not expected to miss any practice time and will be good to go for Sunday's Wild-Card game against the Philadelphia Eagles. The 26-year-old signal-caller had another strong season overall despite playing in only nine games due to an early-season turf-toe injury. He'll be in line for another challenging matchup against a stout Eagles defensive unit that ranks sixth in both dropback-success rate (40.7%) and dropback EPA (-0.109) over the final five weeks of the season.