Fantasy Football Player Notes

Ekeler is still an every week start even though he hasn't been as involved so far this season as a receiver. He's still seeing a ton of work on the ground and Taylor's going to need him this week if they are indeed playing from behind. He's a solid RB2.

I had my concerns about Allen coming into the season with Taylor under center but moved him up based on the fact that Mike Williams was not supposed to play the first few weeks. Not only did Williams play, but he got more opportunity than Allen. Yeah, it was only one target, but Williams had a 43.3 percent share of the Chargers air yards while Allen was at just 27.8 percent. The Chiefs moved on from Kendall Fuller this offseason and went to Antonio Hamilton to cover the slot. In his first start, he allowed 3-of-4 passing for 45 yards in his coverage. He's a former undrafted free agent who's on his third NFL team in three years, so it's not a matchup to be scared of. The Chiefs allowed the fewest yards to wide receivers last year, but they suddenly have three new cornerbacks starting (Fuller replaced, Bashaud Breeland suspended, Charvarius Ward hurt). Allen obviously isn't a lock but getting eight targets in this matchup should produce results. I'm good trusting him as a low-end WR2/high-end WR3.

It was a promising start to Henry's season with Taylor where he saw a massive 26.7 target share. He caught five of his eight targets for 73 yards in a plus-matchup against the Bengals. This mirrors what Taylor did as a starter in Buffalo, relying heavily on his tight end, who was Charles Clay at that time. However, if they want to proactively target Ekeler more out of the backfield, it would cut into Henry's targets. The Chiefs have continually let tight ends have the underneath stuff and it's the reason they faced 145 targets last year, which ranked as the second-most in football. Tight ends averaged just 9.94 yards per reception, which ranked as the seventh lowest in the league. So, if the Chargers want to dink-and-dunk down the field, the Chiefs will seemingly allow it. Henry tallied six catches for 69 yards against this defense last year, so he's familiar. Until we see Taylor move of Henry and target Ekeler a lot more, you should play Henry as a stable TE1 with a solid floor.

He went from not expected to play for a few weeks, to maybe he'll be on a snap count, to getting 43.3 percent of the team's air yards. He looked great, too, though I was worried about his health as Taylor continually threw the ball high, leaving him getting hit hard down the field. This matchup would've been one to avoid last year, but the Chiefs secondary is likely going to be missing their top two perimeter cornerbacks, as Bashaud Breeland is suspended, and Charvarius Ward broke his hand last week. That would leave them with L'Jarius Sneed and Rashad Fenton to start. Sneed is a fourth-round rookie, while Fenton is a sixth-round pick from last year who's only seen 30 targets come his way to this point in his career. If Taylor is willing to throw it up to Williams, he can win one-on-one in these matchups, though we have to be a bit cautious based on what the Chargers are saying (they want to get Ekeler more targets), as well as Keenan Allen's plus matchup. I'd still consider him someone who should be in the low-end WR3/high-end WR4 conversation.

It was not what Ekeler owners had hoped for in his first game alongside Tyrod Taylor. Sure, he got 19 carries that amounted to 84 yards, but he saw just one target. That's an issue, especially when you see that Kelley got the lone carry inside the five-yard-line. After the game, Anthony Lynn said it's a priority to get Ekeler more involved. Expect a big bounce-back this week against the Chiefs, who allowed the most receiving yards to running backs last year. They allowed a massive 59.4 yards per game through the air to running backs while no other team allowed more than 55.7 per game. It's not just that, either. They allowed the sixth-most fantasy points per opportunity to running backs, so touches mean everything. And guys, let's not pretend that 19 carries for 84 yards isn't impressive, as that was the eighth-most among running backs in Week 1. Start Ekeler as an RB1 and expect big results. Kelley is a bit tougher to place this week, as he looked good on his 12 carries last week, but that was a neutral gamescript where they ran the ball 33 times with the running backs. Against the Chiefs, that won't happen. Opponents averaged just 22.3 carries per game against them in 2019. Still, if they get into a goal-line situation, it seems Kelley will be the guy. Seeing that Justin Jackson is dealing with an injury, we should still get 8-10 carries out of Kelley. Consider him a touchdown-dependent RB4.