A slow season in an incompetent Chicago Bears offense last season shouldn’t have allowed NFL fans to forget about Keenan Allen. The 33-year-old reminded everyone why in the Los Angeles Chargers’ season-opening win over the Kansas City Chiefs in São Paulo, Brazil, catching seven of his 10 targets for 68 yards and a score against a solid Chiefs secondary. Those 10 targets led the team.
By adding Allen to a core that already featured sophomore sensation Ladd McConkey and the talented but drop-prone Quentin Johnston, the Chargers bolstered an offense that helped coax out Justin Herbert’s most efficient season. Last season, Los Angeles operated a run-heavy offense overall — especially early on — but in Week 1, it threw the ball at the league’s 14th-highest rate.
In part, that’s a function of the opponent — Kansas City had among the league’s best defenses against running backs in 2024 — but it continued a trend from the end of last season. The Chargers allowed Herbert to throw the ball more than 30 times in seven of their final eight games in 2024, and his increased volume was a major reason they went 5-3 in that span, including a three-game winning streak to end that season. The five games in which Herbert recorded his most intended air yards per passing attempt all came in the team’s last nine games.
Fantasy managers should expect a more aggressive Herbert this season. His receiving corps got better after adding Allen, and going from J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards in the backfield to Najee Harris and Omarion Hampton is a downgrade, unless Hampton surprises as a rookie. Herbert being more willing to air the ball out deep should help Allen, as he emerged as more of a deep threat in the last three seasons of his first stint with Los Angeles. He recorded an average depth of target of 8.4 yards or higher in each of those seasons, deeper than Herbert’s averages. Allen should be able to step into Johnston’s deep-shot role from last season, though Johnston was also excellent in Week 1.
The veteran should be worthy of at least FLEX consideration this coming Monday against the Las Vegas Raiders, who recorded by far the league’s worst coverage grade in 2024 by Pro Football Focus’ grading standards. Despite coming out with a low-scoring victory over the New England Patriots, the Raiders weren’t all that great in Week 1, either, allowing relatively unheralded Kayshon Boutte to turn his six catches into 103 yards and Stefon Diggs, a 31-year-old recovering from a torn ACL, to put up a six-catch, 51-yard performance. The only Las Vegas cornerback with better than a 50.0 coverage grade was Kyu Blu Kelly, who was among the league’s worst defenders last season. Allen also lined up in the slot on 15 of his 40 snaps, and Raiders slot corner Darnay Holmes posted a putrid 30.1 coverage grade in Week 1.
