Job Battles: Opportunity in Philadelphia

Honestly, not a whole lot of actionable movement this week on the subject of job battles. Here are a few selections, though.

Running Back

Corey Clement vs. Wendell Smallwood, PHI

Jay Ajayi will miss the rest of the year with an ACL tear, opening a substantial void in the backfield of what should be one of the highest-scoring offenses from here. Clement has considerable traction in this battle since he's the incumbent backup to Ajayi, but Smallwood's strong play in recent weeks has possibly narrowed the gap between himself and Clement.

Smallwood took full advantage while Clement missed the last two weeks with a quadriceps injury, and his ascent even began back in Week 3 against the Colts, otherwise known as Bad Clement Chalk Day. Since then Smallwood has 122 yards (6.8 YPC) and a touchdown on the ground to go with nine receptions for 94 yards and a touchdown on 14 targets.

Smallwood always had the better prospect profile between the two, so I was surprised when he fell flat last year as Clement surged ahead. The results of the past three weeks strike me as a return to normalcy rather than a fluke, but I doubt either runner gets substantially more usage from scrimmage than the other in an offense that, as a matter of policy, rotates its running backs heavily. With 4.47 speed and standout pass-catching skills, Smallwood provides a more elusive skill set to complement Clement's power-back nature. I'd expect Clement to see a bit more of the red-zone work, but Smallwood should outpace him in the passing game. Both could offer flex-type utility with Ajayi out.

Aaron Jones vs. Jamaal Williams, GB

Mike McCarthy on some level knows that Jones is better than Williams, but his priorities are such that he'd rather lose than concede the point. This is clearly a man who overestimates his own job security, or else he'd show some vague concern with results.

McCarthy all but reiterated Monday that he won't consider using his best running back like any other team would, because running backs have to do different things, you see, and it takes all of Jones, Williams, and Ty Montgomery to make the offense work. Williams does literally one thing better than the other two: pass blocking, which basically isn't a thing. As Pat Thorman pointed out Sunday, the Packers called for two pass-blocking reps at running back. How does McCarthy reconcile this with the fact that Jones didn't see a single carry in the second half against Detroit? He simply ignores the question.

Perhaps McCarthy was being coy with the press Monday. It'd be an uncharacteristic flicker of cleverness if he was playing dumb and merely trying to mislead the 49ers of his true intentions this week, but there's no precedent for such optimism with McCarthy, who seems less annoyed by losing than he is having his decisions questioned. Jones has 595 yards and five touchdowns on 105 carries in his 15 NFL games, good for 5.7 yards per carry. Williams sits at 751 yards and four touchdowns on 206 carries (3.6 YPC). I think McCarthy will eventually turn to Jones when he feels some heat, but for now he appears resolved to voluntarily leave points on the bench.

Chris Carson vs. Mike Davis vs. Rashaad Penny, SEA

Carson had a huge game against the Rams, totaling 19 carries for 116 yards while Davis ran for 68 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries. That Davis produced so well despite a career YPC of 3.3 implies that pretty much anyone would have run wild in that setting, but Pete Carroll and Brian Schottenheimer are blessed with such wisdom that they figured they better not let Penny get a single carry to test the hypothesis.

It was the best game of Carson's career to this point, and Davis' second big game in a row. But if you watched Davis and Penny the week prior, you'd know that the rookie provided an obvious contrast for explosiveness and speed. It's basically unthinkable that the Seahawks would punish him for the showing, but it's possible there's no meaning or method to anything done by a franchise this unstable. Carroll and Schottenheimer are getting desperate with their careers circling the drain, and there's no guarantee they could tell you what they were thinking at the time.

I understand the consensus declaration that Penny Is Done Now, Forever, but I think that premise overestimates the stability of the Seahawks and furthermore turns a stubbornly blind eye toward the nature of Davis specifically. If they can rationalize putting Penny on the shelf because an obvious backup like Davis ran pretty good against a terrible Arizona defense, then they can just as easily scrap Davis and Carson for Penny when the running game inevitably goes dead next. In leagues of considerable depth, I think it makes sense to hold on to Penny just for the chance that he benefits from the chaos. As long as he's in shape, he's objectively better than Carson and Davis, and against the Cardinals he seemed to be on the right track. I honestly expect Penny to make a surge in this backfield after the Week 7 bye.

Phillip Lindsay vs. Royce Freeman, DEN

Coach Vance Joseph expressed a desire to get Freeman more work against the Jets on Sunday, but it didn't happen. That's because Lindsay once again ran well, parlaying his speed and hot motor into 61 yards on 12 carries, adding three catches for 20 yards on four targets. Freeman finished with five carries for 31 yards and three catches for 16 yards on four targets.

It seems like nothing will give here, especially because it's constantly appearing increasingly unlikely that Lindsay will ever give Denver a reason to take him off the field. Lindsay was clearly a miss by the NFL scouting community, and he's demonstrated such skill to this point that it's not any sleight to Freeman to give Lindsay snaps at his expense. They both appear quite good, and whenever the Broncos fall behind there's a good chance Freeman will fall off the radar as the Broncos try to catch up with Lindsay's speed.

Wide Receiver

Geronimo Allison vs. Randall Cobb vs. Marquez Valdes-Scantling vs. Equanimeous St. Brown, GB

Between Allison's underwhelming prospect profile and the reports of the Packers attempting to trade Cobb during training camp, there's a real chance that at least one of the rookie Packers wideouts carves out a lasting role in this offense. J'Mon Moore doesn't seem like a candidate after watching MVS and ESB from the sideline Sunday, and ESB is a long shot after clearly running behind MVS to this point, but Green Bay's loyalty to Allison and Cobb is about to be tested.

MVS is clearly the top target here, and I think one worth spending considerable FAAB on if you're desperate for receiver help. Cobb hasn't stayed healthy in years, and MVS' 4.3 speed makes him a major big-play threat in an Aaron Rodgers offense. I think you can expect him to make more downfield plays going forward – his seven catches for 68 yards Sunday is a sharp contrast to his work at South Florida, where he averaged 17.3 yards per catch over his final two years.

Larry Fitzgerald vs. Christian Kirk, ARZ

I feel like there's only room in the Arizona offense for one useful receiver in a given game, because the Cardinals are both zero-tempo and zero-utility, resulting in a tiny pie to distribute among pass catchers. Kirk has built up some momentum lately, highlighted by his three catches for 85 yards and a touchdown against the 49ers. But he saw only four targets, the result of the Cardinals running just 48 plays. The Cardinals are averaging only 49.4 plays per game – absolutely disgusting. This is a trend, not an aberration, and nothing short of Steve Wilks' firing is likely to reverse it.

That Kirk has emerged in recent weeks might be specifically due to Fitzgerald's hamstring troubles. Fitzgerald saw just three targets against the 49ers while Chad Williams and Ricky Seals-Jones each saw six. If Fitzgerald can get back to full health, it's hard to see him getting outplayed by Kirk, a 21-year-old rookie, but it's equally difficult to see him providing any consistent production in an offense with such a small sample size.

Tight End

C.J. Uzomah vs. No one healthy, CIN

Tyler Kroft was a third-round pick in the same draft where Uzomah went in the fifth round, and last year it was Kroft who saw substantial usage whenever Tyler Eifert was hurt. Kroft saw 62 targets last year, while Uzomah saw 15.

Even before Kroft suffered a foot injury against the Dolphins on Sunday, though, it was clear that Uzomah's role had expanded from 2017, and largely at Kroft's expense. Uzomah logged 159 snaps prior to Sunday, while Kroft saw just 92. I figured that this was due to Uzomah's superior blocking, and figured Eifert's absence would clear the same pass-catching role Kroft had last year. The foot injury makes the question inconclusive, but it looks like he might have played behind Uzomah regardless.

Uzomah has been a shaky pass catcher even going back to his Auburn days, where he was known as a standout athlete but generally an underachiever. Perhaps a light went on this training camp, and perhaps he'll seize this opportunity and provide useful fantasy production, particularly if Kroft misses time.