MakaiLemon

Brandon Lee Gowton·Oct 6

Interesting to see that Darius Cooper outsnapped Makai Lemon as WR2 … while also playing a significant role on special teams, where he

logged a tackle on punt coverage. Good! We’ve been calling for Cooper to get more playing time. His team-high seven targets produced three catches for 33 yards and two touchdowns.... Lemon saw the second-most targets with six. He logged three catches for 27 yards. Curiously, all three receptions came on the Eagles’ third drive. Somehow never got another touch after that.

Oct 5

Smith played 93.4% of snaps over the first three weeks, ranking third-best among wide receivers. Dontayvion Wicks has been the primary X receiver with Darius Cooper mixing in at times, while first-round rookie Makai Lemon has been the slot receiver in 11 personnel. Smith was inactive this week with a hamstring injury. Hollywood Brown has been Smith’s primary backup in 11 personnel this season, but Brown was also out this week with an ankle injury. This left the possibility open for Cooper or Lemon to see more playing time, or Philadelphia could have kept those two in their usual spots and moved Britain Covey or Elijah Moore up the depth chart. The Eagles just turned to Cooper to be their Z receiver, with Wicks and Lemon playing the same roles as usual. Moore was the fourth-string wide receiver for this game. Cooper ended up leading the team in receiving yards at 33, and he scored two touchdowns. This makes Cooper a waiver-wire target in deep leagues, but it’s worth noting he only has 1.31 yards per route run on the season compared to 1.79 by Wicks. Cooper’s numbers look impressive largely because of his touchdown totals. Once Smith is healthy again, it’s unlikely Cooper will be anything more than a rotational option. It’s also worth noting this wasn’t a great sign for Lemon’s fantasy value that he didn’t take the 12 personnel snaps. While it might not make sense to drop Lemon at this point given that he is a talented first-round pick in the first month of his career, this isn’t a good sign for Lemon.