5 NFL Red Zone Trends to Monitor for Week 7

The Eagles Without Jay Ajayi

Through Week 5, Jay Ajayi led the Philadelphia Eagles with 13 red zone opportunities. He was lost for the season due to a torn ACL though, and Week 6 gave us a look at how the team will handle red zone play-calling without Ajayi,

The first thing that stands out is Wendell Smallwood stepping up and notching a week-leading six rush attempts. He didn't see a red zone target, but those six opportunities still tied him for second in the NFL. For context, Ajayi never saw more than five in a game, with totals of five, three, three and two in 2018.

Those six carries accounted for a 66.7% market share, and in addition to running nine times, the Eagles racked up seven red zone targets. Alshon Jeffery and Zach Ertz split the team lead with three each. Ertz leads the team by a big margin, with 11 (30.0% market share) on the season, but Jeffery already has seven in his three games this season. Over the three weeks he has been active, his 30.4% market share is a team-high, while Ertz is one target behind with six, good for a 26% market share.

The only other Eagle with more than two red zone targets in that time is Smallwood (four), and combining that with his big rushing volume last week, he looks to have some very significant touchdown upside moving forward.