The San Diego Chargers will once again be without No. 1 receiver Keenan Allen for an extended period of time. The team officially placed the pass catcher on season-ending injured reserve on Monday, a day after he tore his ACL in the season opener.
It was Allen's first game back since suffering a lacerated kidney eight games into the 2015 season. With Allen out, new acquisition Travis Benjamin fills the shoes of San Diego's top receiver.
It's an interesting situation for Benjamin himself. The former Cleveland Browns receiver caught seven of the eight passes thrown his way against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. Unfortunately, he put up just 32 yards on those catches, averaging an astonishingly low 4.0 yards per target.
More than anything, that was a representation of Philip Rivers relying on Benjamin on screens with Allen taking most of the intermediate targets on the outside. With Allen now out for the season, the expectation is that Benjamin will fill the role that he held in Cleveland last season when he averaged 14.2 yards on 68 receptions.
With a better quarterback under center and in an equally receiver-friendly offense, Benjamin should shine from a fantasy standpoint, especially considering he will be the team's No. 1 receiver from here on out. Look for WR2 upside from Benjamin in year-long contests with near-weekly DFS value.
Behind Benjamin, there's a lot of questions here. Remember, Stevie Johnson was lost for the year with an injury during the summer. That opened things up for second-year player Tyrell Williams to take over as San Diego's No. 3 receiver. He responded by putting up 71 yards on two receptions against Kansas City.
Williams is nowhere near a waiver-wire consideration right now. Though, he's definitely someone to keep an eye on as San Diego progresses through its early-season schedule.
More than anything outside of Benjamin, it sure looks like Allen's injury will open things up for San Diego's pass catchers at other positions.
Antonio Gates received just four targets in Sunday's loss to the Chiefs. That's the least amount of times he's been thrown to during a full game since all the way back in 2013. There's no reason to believe Gates will continue to see such low target numbers moving forward, especially given his built-in relationship with Rivers.
It sure did look like the Chiefs' defensive goal was to take Gates out of the action with Eric Berry on Sunday. Considering Allen is now out for the season, other teams will follow suit. This doesn't mean Rivers won't start to force the ball Gates' way with limited options on the outside.
Both Melvin Gordon and Danny Woodhead played big roles on offense this past week. Gordon scored two touchdowns and tallied 57 rushing yards on 14 attempts. Meanwhile, the always stellar Woodhead gained 89 yards on 16 attempts while adding five receptions for 31 yards on seven targets.
Much like Benjamin and Gates, it wouldn't be too much of a surprise to see Woodhead targeted more as the season progresses. This makes him a stellar play in PPR DFS contests such as DraftKings. Not so much in FanDuel formats. Gordon remains the go-to guy in San Diego in like sites.