Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
As the season started, the San Diego Chargers wide receiver position was flat out ugly. Danario Alexander tore his ACL and was shelved for the entire season. Then, a few weeks later, Malcom Floyd suffered an ugly injury, and was placed on injured reserve shortly after. Outside of tight end Antonio Gates, there was no one in this receiving corp that you could trust from a fantasy perspective.
Related: Fantasy Football 2013: Run, Don’t Walk, To Grab Nick Foles
However, hope has come in the form of a rookie.
Over the last three weeks, you’d be hard-pressed to find another wide receiver that has been more productive than rookie Keenan Allen. During that span, he has been targeted 27 times, has caught 20 balls for 302 yards and two touchdowns. After an impressive Monday night performance, Allen now has posted 100 receiving yards in back-to-back games. He’s been very fantasy relevant as of late, and surprisingly, he is only owned in 37 percent of Yahoo! leagues. That, my friends, is an absolute sin. That is most certainly going to change this week, and those who pick up the talented rookie will be handsomely rewarded for the rest of the season.
Believe me, folks. This kid is legit.
Allen won’t exactly wow you with his speed or size, but he is a very polished route runner who has been able to get open pretty easily as of late. The offense is a good fit for Allen. San Diego likes to throw the ball out with quarterback Philip Rivers and head coach Mike McCoy. Rivers has currently attempted 223 passes, which is ranked ninth in football. The volume will continue to be there, and outside of Gates, there is no one else in this passing game that will threaten Allen’s targets. Allen runs shorter routes than someone like Vincent Brown in this offense, and considering Rivers doesn’t throw the long ball that much anymore, Allen should continue to get plenty of looks. As for the rest of the season, Allen will undoubtedly finish as a top-30 fantasy wide receiver. There is just too much going for him. A pass-happy offense, a rejuvenated signal caller and the more he plays (and plays well), the higher his confidence will be. Oh, and it doesn’t hurt to have a pretty favorable schedule the rest of the way.
|
Week |
Opponent |
FPPG To WR |
Rank |
| 7 | Jaguars | 29.88 | 15th-most |
| 9 | Redskins | 34.52 | 5th-most |
| 10 | Broncos | 37.03 | 3rd-most |
| 13 | Bengals | 25.88 | 20th-most |
| 14 | Giants | 32.88 | 10th-most |
| 15 | Broncos | 37.03 | 5th-most |
| 16 | Raiders | 29.78 | 16th-most |
If he is somehow, some way available in your league, change that.
Now.
Adam Pfeifer is a featured fantasy sports columnist for Rant Sports.
You can follow him on Twitter @aPfeiferRS.
