Chargers Fantasy Preview: Passing and Catching
The Passing Game
Rivers is going to bounce back in a big way this week. The pass defense for Houston was decent enough last week against Gardner Minshew in his first start for Jacksonville, but they struggled big-time against Drew Brees on the road.
Rivers knows that he was over-reliant on Keenan Allen in Week 2, and he’s going to spread the ball around better this week. Mike Williams had some impressive catches last week while he was dealing with knee soreness, but he’s off the injury report this week.
Ekeler, of course, remains a big weapon for Rivers and you’ll see some of those screen formations the Chargers always set up with him.
A sleeper for Rivers may be receiver Dontrelle Inman, as he went off against the Texans the last time the teams matched up. As the third receiver, Rivers will try to get him more involved this week if he can. Last week was only the second time in 18 games he didn’t have a passing touchdown, and it’s not happening again for a while.
The Receiving Game
Allen is the Chargers’ lead receiver in fantasy by far. He’s getting the ball no matter what. After that, the situation gets a bit murkier. In terms of confidence currently, the second receiver is probably Williams. He’s a touchdown-dependent option in non-PPR leagues, but he could be in for a big game this week with Rivers wanting to spread the ball more evenly throughout the offense. After that, the last viable receiving target is probably Ekeler.
Travis Benjamin is always a guy who can catch a deep ball or two a game, but there’s no consistency at the moment. The same is true for Inman. Virgil Green hasn’t gotten many targets and while that may change, he simply isn’t reliable at the moment.
Other than Allen, Williams, and Ekeler, there aren’t too many viable options for now, until Rivers finds other consistent option or Hunter Henry returns.