The Chargers have ruled out Mike Williams. This makes their other receivers, especially Joshua Palmer and DeAndre Carter, a lot more interesting in fantasy competitions.
The Los Angeles passing game is built around Austin Ekeler, Williams and Keenan Allen. Those are the main guys. So when one of them is missing, it creates the opportunity for somebody else to get involved.
There have been 10 games this year that Williams, Allen or both weren’t available. Palmer has been a pretty good producer in those 10 games, catching 54 passes for 607 yards, with 3 TDs. Carter tends to be more of a supplemental player; he’s caught 33 passes for 365 yards and 2 TDs in those 10 games, on barely half as many targets.
As good fortune would have it, the Chargers on Saturday will play against a defense that ranked only 27th against the pass in the regular season. The Jaguars thus far are allowing 250 passing yards per week, with 25 TD passes in 17 games.
I don’t consider Palmer to be an elite-type option, but he could fit into your Wild Card Weekend plans, depending on your format. Using PPR scoring, he’s put up more than 10 points in 70 percent of his games when one of their big-time receivers has been missing.
It sure seemed wildly ill-advised when Brandon Staley trotted out his regulars to play in a meaningless Week 18 game at Denver. If the Chargers come up just short in this game, he’ll be hearing a lot more about that decision.
| CHARGERS WHEN MISSING A WIDE RECEIVER | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Opp | Result | Missing | Tgt | Rec | Yds | TD | PPR |
| Palmer | K.C. | L 27-30 | MW | 10 | 8 | 106 | 2 | 30.6 |
| Carter | at Ari. | W 25-24 | MW | 10 | 7 | 73 | 1 | 20.3 |
| Palmer | at Atl. | W 20-17 | KA, MW | 10 | 8 | 106 | 0 | 18.6 |
| Carter | at S.F. | L 16-22 | KA, MW | 4 | 4 | 64 | 1 | 16.4 |
| Palmer | Jac. | L 10-38 | KA | 9 | 6 | 99 | 0 | 15.9 |
| Palmer | Den. | W 19-16 | KA | 12 | 9 | 57 | 0 | 14.7 |
| Palmer | at K.C. | L 24-27 | KA | 8 | 4 | 30 | 1 | 13.0 |
| Palmer | at L.V. | L 20-27 | MW | 11 | 7 | 60 | 0 | 13.0 |
| Palmer | at Ari. | W 25-24 | MW | 7 | 5 | 56 | 0 | 10.6 |
| Carter | at Atl. | W 20-17 | KA, MW | 6 | 5 | 53 | 0 | 10.3 |
| Carter | at K.C. | L 24-27 | KA | 3 | 3 | 55 | 0 | 8.5 |
| Palmer | at S.F. | L 16-22 | KA, MW | 8 | 3 | 44 | 0 | 7.4 |
| Carter | K.C. | L 27-30 | MW | 3 | 3 | 33 | 0 | 6.3 |
| Carter | Jac. | L 10-38 | KA | 4 | 3 | 31 | 0 | 6.1 |
| Palmer | at Cle. | W 30-28 | KA | 6 | 3 | 24 | 0 | 5.4 |
| Carter | Den. | W 19-16 | KA | 5 | 3 | 17 | 0 | 4.7 |
| Carter | at Hou. | W 34-24 | KA | 3 | 2 | 16 | 0 | 3.6 |
| Palmer | at Hou. | W 34-24 | KA | 1 | 1 | 25 | 0 | 3.5 |
| Carter | at Cle. | W 30-28 | KA | 2 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 2.9 |
| Carter | at L.V. | L 20-27 | MW | 2 | 1 | 14 | 0 | 2.4 |
| Carter | at Jac. | ? | MW | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Palmer | at Jac. | ? | MW | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
—Ian Allan