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Is Ladd McConkey or Keenan Allen the WR1 for the Chargers? Should you draft McConkey or Allen in 2025 fantasy football drafts? John's expert draft analysis and advice.
The Los Angeles Chargers signed their long-time veteran receiver, Keenan Allen, before the start of the 2025 season, reuniting him with the organization that drafted him. The WR corps around him looks quite different from what it did a few years ago, though.
The team's WR1 last season was Ladd McConkey. In his rookie season, he was targeted 112 times, catching 82 passes for 1,149 yards and seven touchdowns. He capped his season with a massive nine-catch, 197-yard, one-touchdown performance in the team's only playoff game, a loss to the Houston Texans.
While McConkey had a fantastic breakout year, Allen has a much longer history of experience and has played with Herbert for multiple seasons in the past. And he showed last season that he was still a skilled wideout, despite his age. So is McConkey or Allen the WR1 for the Los Angeles Chargers?
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Ladd McConkey Fantasy Football Outlook
McConkey's rookie season got off to a bit of a slow start. Despite scoring 14.9 PPR fantasy points in his first game, four of his next five contests featured only single-digit scoring for the rookie. But in Week 8, he caught six passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns, and went on to score 18.7 PPR points per game (excluding one game he missed due to injury) from Weeks 11 through 18.
McConkey was praised for his route-running and separation abilities in college, and these clearly translated well to the NFL. He makes very sudden and explosive cuts and is lightning-quick out of his route breaks. He runs precise routes with little wasted motion, helping him reach the catch point with room to work.
Ladd McConkey running a Spray Slant from a Condensed Split pic.twitter.com/zKBpbDYBvS
— Coach Dan Casey (@CoachDanCasey) October 23, 2024
His ability to stop on a dime, change direction, and re-accelerate in the blink of an eye makes him a very tough man-coverage matchup. In addition, he's a genuinely explosive athlete. He ran a 4.39-second 40-yard dash. He's not just sneaky-athletic or "quicker than fast"; he has the ability to pull away from defensive backs and create explosive plays.
Ladd McConkey is an excellent route runner and separator, but his raw speed and acceleration are also impressive. I hope the Chargers get him in space more this season. pic.twitter.com/P8vRZMxdlw
— JohnJohn Analysis (@JohnJohnalytics) August 25, 2025
He has room to grow, considering he had fantastic efficiency in his first season, and he could produce even more if the Chargers use him in a more versatile role, perhaps with screen passes or on crossing routes, trying to get him in space more often to let him run after the catch.
He's not likely to become some great contested catch option, owing to his small size, but that's not particularly important. He has a history of missing a lot of time due to injuries, though, and he battled through a lot of ailments in 2024.
Ladd McConkey’s injury history
Available for free on our website. pic.twitter.com/n7CTD2hwNE
— TheInjuryExpertz (@InjuryExpertz) July 3, 2025
He's already accrued quite a list of health problems. It's always difficult to predict when players will get hurt, but some players simply miss more time than others due to their issues with staying healthy. It's notable that McConkey fell in the 2024 draft due to his back issue.
Still, he should have a good season. He's built plenty of chemistry with his quarterback and is likely to continue to be featured heavily in the offense. Plus, he is a great athlete and separator that can consistently beat coverages, get open, make catches, and move the chains.
Keenan Allen Fantasy Football Outlook
Allen's glory days might be over. He's now 33 years old. Most NFL receivers are simply out of the league at this point, and even some of the NFL's better pass-catchers don't make it this far. At least Allen's skillset -- running refined, crisp routes and generating quick separation -- tends to age well.
He played with the Chicago Bears last season, catching 70 of his 121 targets for 744 yards and seven touchdowns, and surprisingly outshining Rome Odunze and DJ Moore at times. Still, that team moved on from him, likely due to his age.
2024 Bears Receivers
Leaders in Separation Win Rate
1. Keenan Allen (14.7%)
2. Rome Odunze (13.4%)
3. DJ Moore (12.8%)Leaders in Receiving Yards per Game [Minus Screens]
1. Keenan Allen (47.9)
2. DJ Moore (42.1)
3. Rome Odunze (40.4)— Fantasy Points Data (@FantasyPtsData) August 2, 2025
Advanced data suggests that this wasn't just the result of getting a bunch of pointless targets. Allen was generally separating from coverage and continuing to get open. So he should have some real utility in the Chargers' offense moving forward.
I anticipate the team's three receivers getting the most playing time to be Allen, McConkey, and rookie Keandre Lambert-Smith. The rookie has impressed in camp and in the preseason, and the Quentin Johnston experiment might just be over. Allen's advanced age might mean he could finish the season as the team's WR3, though.
Keenan Allen is pretty clearly out of his prime, but he still produce in a disaster offense this past season with Chicago.
He was 8th among all WRs in % of games with 17+ half PPR fantasy points, as he landed above 17 FP in 33.3% of his games.
pic.twitter.com/VjfaZgmU51— Dataroma (@ffdataroma) August 6, 2025
It's hard to imagine him reclaiming the WR1 role from someone who just had as good a season as McConkey. Allen doesn't have anywhere near the burst or speed that No. 15 has.
Who Should You Draft in Fantasy Football?
Neither of them is a bad pick, though McConkey being taken consistently in the second round makes me a bit nervous. Lambert-Smith looks legitimate and put impressive things on film in college despite playing for a poor offense. I think he deserves a solid target share as he acclimates to playing in the NFL and L.A.'s offense.
Last season, McConkey was the only viable pass-catcher on the Chargers' offense. The box score against the Houston Texans showed that. McConkey had 197 yards -- no other player had more than 16. We could see a higher distribution of targets moving forward, and see McConkey continue displaying elite efficiency, albeit with disappointing target numbers in Chargers' offensive coordinator Greg Roman's run-heavy scheme.
Greg Roman may be of the greatest run game tacticians I have ever been around at the NFL level. RBs and TEs love his system because they EAT. WRs absolutely hate it. That’s why free agent WRs didn’t want to go to or stay in Baltimore. It was never about Lamar Jackson.
— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) January 19, 2023
Roman could also hurt the value of Allen. This team drafted running back Omarion Hampton in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft and signed RB Najee Harris (eye). Both RBs have handled huge workloads in their careers. Roman's dream doesn't line up with the big expectations for the team's receivers.
My favorite plan is taking a late-round flier on Lambert-Smith and drafting other receivers like A.J. Brown in the second round of redraft leagues, while leaving Allen on waivers. I expect Allen to have some nice weeks, but at his age, I'm not expecting anything consistent.
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