Fantasy Football Player Notes

It's so hard to tell what's good or what's bad for Chark nowadays, as Foles targeted him 15 times in their first game, leading us to believe he'd raise Chark's value. Over the last two weeks, in plus matchups, he finished with just seven catches for 85 yards in the two games combined. He has Minshew back under center, which is likely a good thing, but the matchup against the Chargers is a tough one. They've allowed just one 100-yard receiver all season, and that was Kenny Golladay all the way back in Week 2. In fact, they've allowed just six wide receivers to finish better than the WR29 all season. That's a bit ridiculous. There have been just six receivers who've hit the 13-PPR-point threshold, which ranks as the second-best mark in the league, behind only the Patriots who've allowed five. You're likely going to see Casey Hayward cover Chark much of the day, and that's not a good thing. He's allowed just 20-of-39 passing for 258 yards in his coverage this year, and though he allowed two touchdowns to Courtland Sutton last week, he was right there where he was supposed to be in coverage, but Sutton just played out of his mind. You should dial back expectations for Chark in this tough matchup, as he should be considered a high-end WR3 rather than the borderline WR1 we thought he was.

He's racked up 23 targets over the last three weeks, though much of that came from Foles under center. His role was growing with Minshew before he got benched, so the transition shouldn't be bad. The downside is that he has a date with Desmond King, the slot cornerback for the Chargers, who has done a good job containing slot-heavy receivers like Westbrook. The biggest performance the Chargers have allowed to a slot-heavy receiver was Kenny Stills' 4/89/0 game back in Week 3 when he finished as the WR36. Looking it over, their schedule hasn't been very tough, so it's possible Westbrook can set the new precedent for slot-heavy receivers against them. When healthy, Westbrook has seen six-plus targets in eight straight games, including six games with eight-plus targets. Those are the types of receivers you have to play, even in not-so-great matchups, because their floor is worth it. He should remain in the WR3 conversation this week.

His seven-plus target streak ended at five games in Week 13, though he still saw five targets and finished with four catches for 57 yards. He's been a solid bye week filler over the last month-and-a-half, but you shouldn't be trusting him in the first week of the fantasy playoffs, as the Chargers are about as tough as it gets. There have been just nine receivers all year who've been able to finish as top-36 options against them, which obviously amounts to less than one per game. The only receivers who've been able to hit double-digit PPR points without seeing a minimum of seven targets were Courtland Sutton and DeVante Parker, two receivers who've been every-week starters. They both needed to score touchdowns to get there. Conley has scored just twice all season. It does help that Chark will likely get Casey Hayward in near shadow coverage, but it's no time to get cute against a defense allowing the fourth-fewest points per game to wide receivers. He's just a high-end WR5.