Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Alshon Jeffery has had a rather quiet start to the 2017 season -- for a projected No. 1 wide receiver, anyway.

Jeffery ranks 41st in receptions (24), 26th in yards (317) and is tied for 25th in touchdowns (two). He is on pace to finish the season with 64 catches, 845 yards and five TDs. Those aren't far off from his totals from each of his past two seasons with the Chicago Bears, and he missed a combined 11 games over that time.

His numbers aren't exactly eye-popping, but opponents and teammates alike can see that receiver Alshon Jeffery is opening things up for the Eagles offense. Kyle Ross/Icon Sportswire

The numbers don't tell the whole story, though, as Washington Redskins coach Jay Gruden explained Thursday.

"I think there's too many fantasy football players in the world," Gruden said. "When you look at Alshon, he's a threat on the outside and makes people play more zone then they might want to, which opens it up for LeGarrette Blount and maybe opens it up for the underneath guys, for Zach Ertz or [Brent] Celek or [Nelson] Agholor. There's a lot of things he does when he doesn't catch the ball that's very effective, and when he does get the opportunity he makes big plays, especially down the field, high-points the ball extremely well like he did against Kansas City, like he's done throughout his career. He's always a threat to go deep, and he's got the physical hands to go across the middle. So I don't think Philadelphia or anybody is worried about his fantasy numbers."

Jeffery said he sees it the same way.

"Whatever it takes for us to win, just opening it up for another guy. But we all feel like that," the 27-year-old said. "One shine, we all shine.

"That's how I really, genuinely feel. Because if we're winning, everyone gets to shine. If one person is doing well, I mean, I don't know the stats of most people, but if you look at it, if one person is really killing it, I don't know if their team is doing too well. That's like basketball: If someone is shooting 50, 40 shots, I don't know if their team is doing well."

To Jeffery's point, quarterback Carson Wentz has been distributing the ball fairly evenly, and it's proved effective. Receivers Torrey Smith (25), Agholor (30) and Jeffery (48) have all been targeted a decent amount. Tight end Ertz (53) leads the team in that category. Collectively, they're part of an offense that ranks third in yards per game (383.2).

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"I see it a lot [of unselfishness] with this team," offensive coordinator Frank Reich said. "Don't get me wrong, there's times where I'll walk by and pat a guy on the butt if I know he didn't get as many balls as he was wanting that week and I'll say, ‘Hey, hang in there, it's a long season. Your game is coming. You're going to catch 10 next week or have this many yards next week.’ Just trying to say things that you know are true, and I know they're true because I've seen it happen so many times. That's just the nature of the game when you have a quarterback who's just looking to run the offense, distribute the ball where it's supposed to go. We're designing things so that the ball is going to get spread out. Yes, we're trying to create certain matchups and hit certain things on big plays, so on, so forth. But that is the way it's designed and supposed to be for the time being."

Given that the offense is working well and the Eagles are 5-1 heading into Monday night's visit from the Redskins (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN/WatchESPN), it's tough to argue with the approach.

Jeffery is on a one-year, $9.5 million deal. He can make an additional $4.5 million in incentives, so there are plenty of reasons to put up good numbers beyond making fantasy football players happy. And big stats will help lead to a big payday this offseason. For now, though, Jeffery seems content in his current role.

"I'm happy, man. I feel great. I love it here in Philly," he said. "We're winning. Let's keep this thing rolling."