Who Should I Start? Jalen Hurts or Michael Penix Jr.

Sunday, October 5, 10:54 PM

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts had a strong day for his fantasy managers through the air, but it came in the team's first loss of the season in a 21-17 defeat at home to the Denver Broncos in Week 5. Hurts went 23-for-38 passing for 280 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions. The 27-year-old only ran the ball two times for three yards while being sacked a season-high six times for a loss of 23 yards. Hurts' pass attempts, completions, and passing yardage were all season highs, and he has now thrown for multiple touchdown passes in the last three weeks. Given the strong defensive opponent, Hurts' overall performance was pretty impressive, but he was also unable to close out the visiting Broncos after leading for the majority of the game. Hurts has high-end QB1 upside because he can do it with both his arms and his legs, and he'll have a better matchup on Thursday night in Week 6 when the Eagles play the division-rival New York Giants.

Tuesday, September 30, 12:21 PM

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. got back on track in Sunday's 34-27 win over the Commanders, completing 20 of his 26 passes for 313 yards and two scores. He did throw one interception as well and was sacked once. The former first-rounder's 90.5 QBR for the game was a solid increase from the 71.3 rating he had going into the contest, and there was a marked improvement in the second-year quarterback's average yards per pass attempt, going from 6.1 in Weeks 1-3 to 12.0 in Week 4 (the highest of any QB). While it was a great bounce-back performance after two down weeks, the 25-year-old draws Buffalo in Week 5 after the team comes out of their bye, and the Bills have limited opposing passers to 125.8 yards per game thus far, which is the fewest yards passing per game in the entire NFL, so fantasy managers may want to look elsewhere for streaming options the next time Penix takes the field.