Carolina

Panthers

Initial reports have Waller playing on 36 of the team’s 79 snaps and running a route on 21 of their 46 dropbacks. Tommy Tremble, the other tight end, ran a route on 14 dropbacks, so Waller is technically the primary option in the passing game of the two. However, Tremble scored two touchdowns this week. We don’t recommend chasing either guy in fantasy right now.

The Panthers seemed a little concerned about the Eagles’ pass rush since Tremble played on 54 of the team’s 79 snaps. He also was on the field for more than half of their dropbacks, but a large chunk of those were in pass-blocking situations. Still, he was schemed wide open on both touchdown passes, which led to a great fantasy day. It’s just not something we would recommend chasing next week.

McMillan saw a lot of Quinyon Mitchell in tight coverage on Sunday, but he had a solid day that could have been much better after a fourth-quarter pass went off his hands in the end zone. It would have been a difficult catch with Mitchell draped all over him, but it was a catchable pass. More importantly, it shows that McMillan remains a key piece of this passing game, and he did run the most routes of any receiver on the team.

Coker missed Week 4 with a quad injury but was able to heal up over the bye week and play a full complement of snaps in Week 6. Initial reports had him playing 59 of the team’s 79 snaps and running a route on 39 of 46 dropbacks, which was second most on the team. He also led the team in targets, catches, and receiving yards. He’s a rock-solid WR2 against the Bucs next week.

It wasn’t easy for Hubbard, who didn’t have many runs over 10 yards, but he ran hard, broke tackles, and was able to find the end zone in the fourth quarter for a short touchdown run. Still, the Panthers did have some issues running the ball up the gut against the Eagles and continued to do it, rather than try to get Hubbard going on the edge. Trevor Etienne was the only other running back to have a carry in this game, and he had just one rush, so this backfield belongs entirely to Hubbard, which is tremendous for his fantasy value.

This game was never quite as easy as many thought it would be given Philadelphia’s injuries. Young looked pretty good, but he was often under pressure, and the Panthers continued to make things harder on themselves with 13 penalties for 149 yards. A few of those really killed the momentum on some Panthers drives. Still, Young made enough big throws and receivers were schemed open into space repeatedly throughout the day. We’d expect that to continue next week against a Bucs defense that might not be as talented as this Eagles one.

Phillips came into this game questionable with a hamstring injury but was able to suit up. Unfortunately, he got hurt early in the first quarter and is unlikely to return. Considering he had the bye week to heal and is not 100 percent, it seems likely that the EDGE rusher will miss some time with the injury.

The good news is that offensive tackle Taylor Moton is active for the first time this year. He missed the first month of the season while recovering from treatment for a blood clot. He will start at right tackle in place of Freeling.

The rookie got in back-to-back limited sessions, but they must have indeed been quite limited for him to wind up with the rarely-used doubtful tag. It’s very unlikely he plays this weekend. Taylor Moton (blood clot) is questionable after three full practices and would seem to be the favorite to start at right tackle.

He upgraded to a full practice today. Waller will be a low-end TE2 with Jalen Coker (quad) playing in Week 6 against a Jalen Hurts-less Eagles outfit.