Danny Woodhead and Antonio Gates Are Best Values on Chargers, Philip Rivers Not As Much

The San Diego Chargers offense has been dismantled with the loss of Keenan Allen. Quarterback Philip Rivers was torching the opposing defenses and established himself as a QB1 for the first half of the season. After losing his top target Allen, Rivers has looked rather ordinary and is no longer a trustworthy fantasy quarterback. Rivers delivered an embarrassing six fantasy points in standard leagues last week against the Kansas City Chiefs. The matchup is better this week against the Jacksonville Jaguars but Rivers has to prove he can still be a top fantasy quarterback without Allen before we can safely insert him in daily lineups. The position is too deep and valuable.

Following the Allen injury, the big question was trying to figure out which wide receiver would pick up the slack. The answer was no one. Stevie Johnson has been targeted highly but is only averaging six standard fantasy points in the two games without Allen. The two San Diego players that you should be looking for are running back Danny Woodhead and tight end Antonio Gates.

Woodhead struggled last week so the argument isn’t as perfect but usually when a quarterback has limited weapons down the field, the pass-catching running back will be the biggest benefactor. Woodhead is one of the best pass-catching backs in the entire league and has shown chemistry with Rivers this season. The matchup against the Jaguars is perfect for him. Jacksonville struggles to contain the pass-catching running back and Woodhead is likely to see an increase in targets because of this. There’s also the benefit of Woodhead still serving as the red zone running back over Melvin Gordon. Woodhead will have a great chance at scoring a touchdown and should rake in the receiving yards. With his value quite low coming off a bad game, Woodhead is a great buy-low to start this week.

Another Chargers star with the lowest value he’ll ever see is Antonio Gates. With just one catch for three yards, Gates burned anyone starting him and was the main reason for many fantasy losses last week. Gates was spotted on the sidelines getting into an argument with Philip Rivers and we can only hope it causes a change in the game plan this week. Gates has been participating fully in practice and is listed as probable. This is a great sign for the improvement of his health and that adds to his value. The lack of targets should see Gates have a good chance at a big game this week. Tight ends are always a gamble and Gates could provide the best prize for anyone taking the risk on him.