Fantasy Football Player Notes

Is there a possibility that the Broncos come out of their bye week and choose to feature Williams in this backfield? While it seems unlikely based on everything we've seen from the Broncos this year, fantasy managers can dream, can't they? Regardless of what the touch split might look like this week between Williams and Gordon, we could be in line for a big performance here from the rookie RB. The Chargers are allowing the most rushing yards per contest to opposing RBs this season and that's still with taking into account Najee Harris' down performance from last week. In addition to a shocking 119.9 rushing yards per game, they're also allowing 1.3 rushing touchdowns per week as well. We could easily see Williams and Gordon both find the end zone here, which makes Williams a mid-range/low-end RB2 play with upside.

While fantasy managers have been frustrated that Gordon and Javonte Williams remain locked up in a 50/50 split, Gordon still has been a very valuable fantasy asset. He's finished inside the top-30 RBs on the week in each of his previous five games and he has two top-10 performances during that stretch. Now, the Broncos get to take on the defense that is allowing the most rushing yards per game with 119.9. The Chargers are allowing an average of 21.0 fantasy points per contest and we could see Denver completely commit to the run game in this one, which would mean good things for Gordon. He can be viewed as a low-end RB2 with upside this week.

In the previous two games before the Broncos' bye, Jeudy had seen an impressive 17 targets. While that didn't amount to a ton of fantasy production, it's encouraging to see that he has the No. 1 WR job in Denver locked down. Unfortunately, that role isn't likely to lead to top-tier production with the mixture of QB play, the surplus of receiving options in town, and the team's commitment to the run game. Jeudy is going to bring a safe floor each and every week that he's in the lineup, but the upside simply isn't going to be there. In a game this week where we could see Denver focus solely in on taking advantage of the plus matchup on the ground, Jeudy might not even see 6+ targets here. It's best to view the star receiver as a high-end/mid-range WR3 and that's about it.

Jerry Jeudy returned to the Broncos lineup in Week 8. Since that point, Sutton has seen just a 10.8% team target share and has put up a total of 12 fantasy points. He's quickly approaching the territory where we can't really trust him from a fantasy perspective, which is disappointing due to the talent level he possesses. Even though he just secured a big contract from the Broncos, it's not worth the risk of starting him in this matchup for him just to continue doing what he's been doing over the past few games. Sutton is a high-end FLEX option at best.

One of the big hangups with Fant coming into draft season was what his consistency was going to be with so many other mouths to feed in this Broncos offense. Now with Jeudy, Patrick, Sutton, Williams, Gordon, and Okwuegbunam all healthy, there are major questions surrounding Fant and what his target share is going to be. While the Chargers matchup is enticing on paper - they've given up the second-most fantasy points to opposing TEs this season - it's important to take notice of who all they've played this year. They've had a slew of tough matchups at the position with very talented players and it's quite shocking that they're only allowing 11.1 fantasy points per game. Fant is a risky play this week due to the possibility that Denver chooses to lean on their run game and we need to downgrade him for it. He can be viewed as a high-end TE2.

Patrick just got paid by the Broncos and will be in Denver for the foreseeable future, and we could certainly be talking about him as a viable fantasy asset next season if the Broncos upgrade at QB, but it's important to temper expectations heading into this matchup. The Chargers are allowing the second-fewest fantasy points to opposing WRs this year and it could be tough sledding for the Broncos pass-catchers. Patrick is nothing more than a mid-range FLEX option for Week 12.