The Philadelphia Eagles will face the Los Angeles Rams in the Divisional Round. Here’s the latest fantasy football news and advice to help you with your lineups this week and moving forward, especially regarding RB Saquon Barkley.
Is Saquon Barkley Playing vs. the Rams?
Barkley was only listed on the injury report this week for rest. Barring any setbacks, he is set to play this weekend.
We’ll continue to monitor the Eagles’ injury report. You can also visit and bookmark our NFL Injury Tracker and Fantasy News Tracker for the latest updates.
Should You Start or Sit Saquon Barkley in the Divisional Round?
The Saquon Barkley conversation isn’t about his volume or his ability to produce. Those are given. He has as many streaks with 25+ carries and multiple catches as all other NFL running backs this season (two) and would have ranked seventh in the NFL in rushing yards if you only gave him his production in the second half of the season.
The counting numbers are safe, and the fantasy upside is at an elite level — he has multiple red-zone touches in 12 straight games. For me, this is an either/or debate with Derrick Henry.
You are, of course, not obligated to roster either in DFS. Or you could roster both if you want to get really creative, but I expect the vast majority of managers to be faced with this decision and don’t think we need to overcomplicate it.
It’s Barkley.
The matchup is better (the Rams rank 22nd in EPA against the run while the Bills rank second) and the projected game state is more favorable. Those are nice tiebreaker stats to look at, but there is one metric that I’m buying, and it does not require a fancy database to track.
Time of possession. Simply put, I’m more confident that the Eagles can stay on the field than I am the Ravens.
Time of possession, 2024 :
- Eagles: 32:16 (first)
- Ravens: 31:25 (fifth)
- Bills: 30:30 (12th)
- Rams: 29:11 (24th)
The Rams have been the eighth-worst third-down offense and allow the fifth-most yards per carry before contact. In my opinion, there are more ways for the Eagles to stay on the field than for the Ravens, and that moves things in Barkley’s direction. When stacking up ceiling cases for these two, if we are assuming similar volume, Philadelphia’s bellcow has three of the top-four per-touch games of 2024.
Spending Sunday night sweating a Henry fade is not going to be an enjoyable 3-4 hours, but that’s the way I’m playing it when it comes to the pricey RBs.
Are you looking for start/sit advice for other players in your lineup? Read our Divisional Round Fantasy Start-Sit Advice Cheat Sheet for every fantasy-relevant player in every game.
Saquon Barkley’s Fantasy Points Projection in the Divisional Round
As of Sunday, Barkley is projected to score 26.3 fantasy points in PPR formats. This includes 26.7 rushing attempts for 122 yards and 0.8 touchdowns. It also includes 4.7 receptions for 31.1 yards and 0.3 touchdowns.
Check out the free PFN Fantasy Start-Sit Optimizer for the latest projections and advice for your lineups this week.
PFN Insight on the Rams' Defense
The Los Angeles Rams' defense finished in the bottom 10, but this ranking doesn't really reflect the team's week-to-week variance. The Wild Card round was another example of the surprisingly high ceiling this unit possesses, with Los Angeles recording an 88.5 (B+) grade.
That was not only the best for the Rams this season, but also their fourth-best in a game since 2019.
Throwing out the meaningless Week 18 contest, this unit ended the season hot. The Rams posted a weekly top-15 finish in four out of five weeks from Weeks 13-17. The exception was the 44-42 bonanza against the Bills in Week 14, in which the Rams posted an F grade.
Los Angeles had four top-10 finishes in the regular season, yet it was also one of three defenses with multiple F grades (Bengals and Panthers). Overall, the Rams graded as a below-average defense in nearly every category that comprises our defensive rankings. The glaring exception is red-zone defense, where LA had the fifth-lowest TD rate allowed.
The defense certainly has the peaks to complement the star power on offense, which hasn't delivered as consistently in the second half of the season. While their low floor likely caps their playoff upside, the Rams have enough variance to beat any team any given week.
For more insight on all other team defenses, head to our PFN Defense+ Metric Analysis.
Saquon Barkley’s Fantasy Ranking
Our Weekly Consensus PPR Rankings are below — both positional and overall. They were last updated at 9:15 AM ET on Saturday, January 18. If you're in a Superflex league, make sure you check out our Divisional Round Superflex Rankings.
Divisional Round RB PPR Rankings
1) Saquon Barkley | PHI (vs. LAR)
2) Derrick Henry | BAL (at BUF)
3) Jahmyr Gibbs | DET (vs. WAS)
4) Kyren Williams | LAR (at PHI)
5) James Cook | BUF (vs. BAL)
6) Joe Mixon | HOU (at KC)
7) David Montgomery | DET (vs. WAS)
8) Brian Robinson Jr. | WAS (at DET)
9) Austin Ekeler | WAS (at DET)
10) Isiah Pacheco | KC (vs. HOU)
11) Kareem Hunt | KC (vs. HOU)
12) Justice Hill | BAL (at BUF)
13) Ty Johnson | BUF (vs. BAL)
14) Kenneth Gainwell | PHI (vs. LAR)
15) Samaje Perine | KC (vs. HOU)
16) Craig Reynolds | DET (vs. WAS)
17) Dare Ogunbowale | HOU (at KC)
18) Ronnie Rivers | LAR (at PHI)
19) Keaton Mitchell | BAL (at BUF)
20) Dameon Pierce | HOU (at KC)
21) Jeremy McNichols | WAS (at DET)
22) Patrick Ricard | BAL (at BUF)
23) Carson Steele | KC (vs. HOU)
24) Reggie Gilliam | BUF (vs. BAL)
25) Sione Vaki | DET (vs. WAS)
Rams at Eagles Trends and Insights
Los Angeles Rams
Team: Through five weeks, the remaining four teams in the AFC were 1-2-3-4 in the conference standings. In the NFC, the Vikings were sitting atop the conference (5-0), while the Rams were tied with the Panthers in the basement (1-4).
QB: Matthew Stafford was a slow starter during the regular season (35th of 36 qualifiers in first-quarter completion percentage), but that wasn't the case against the Vikings (11/12 for 124 yards and a touchdown).
Offense: Even in the impressive win, the Rams struggled on third down (two-of-10) -- they've failed to convert over 25% of their third down opportunities in seven different games this season.
Defense: Only once during the regular season did the Rams record more than four sacks. Monday was a different story as they tied the NFL record for most sacks in a playoff game (nine).
https://twitter.com/PFN365/status/1878997563069673976
Fantasy: Cooper Kupp has earned just 10 targets on 87 routes run (five receptions) over his past four games.
Betting: Since their Week 6 bye, the Rams have played four games against playoff teams, scoring an average of 30.3 points in each.
Philadelphia Eagles
Team: Philadelphia won 14 games during the regular season, the fourth time in franchise history that they’ve won at least a baker’s dozen – they represented the NFC in the Super Bowl in each of the previous three seasons (2004, 2017, and 2022).
QB: Jalen Hurts posted a 69.6 QB+ on Sunday against the Packers, the third lowest since 2019 in a playoff victory (only Jimmy Garoppolo in 2021 and Trevor Lawrence in 2022 were able to advance despite a lesser grade).
Offense: The NFL average for points per drive is 2.06 – the Eagles haven’t been held under 2.00 points per possession since September.
Defense: The Packers scored 53.8% of their third downs on Sunday, the second-highest rate produced by an opponent against the Eagles this season, topped only by the Bengals (Week 8).
Fantasy: A.J. Brown turned 24 routes into just a single catch – his 0.42 yards per route run was the sixth-worst mark of his career. Safe to call that the outlier and not the norm, as this has been his best season in that metric (2.87).
Betting: The Eagles are 8-2 ATS since 2005 in non-Wild Card playoff games (six of those covers came by more than seven points).
