Fantasy Football Outlook: Keenan Allen

Keenan Allen excelled during his 2017 campaign with the Los Angeles Chargers and in 2018 he has the potential to become the league’s top fantasy wide receiver.

According to FantasyPros.com, Allen has the 29th easiest strength of schedule among all wide receivers. This means that over the course of the season, Allen’s matchups will be overall favorable, a positive sign for fantasy owners. A consensus also gave him an ADP (Average Draft Position) of 17, which translates to a guaranteed 2nd round selection in 10 or 12-man leagues.

Fantasy owners were skeptical last year given his slow start (595 yards, one touchdown through his first nine games). However, as the season went on owners became extremely thankful towards the end of the season and some may have won their leagues due to Allen’s season ending production.

Allen’s 2018 projections are as follows (via FantasyPros):

The Chargers offense looks to be in top-10 form this season with Phillip Rivers, Melvin Gordon and Keenan Allen leading the charge (no pun intended). Allen is slated to be a top-5 wide receiver in fantasy this year and depending on your draft pick, look to draft him late in first rounds and early in second rounds.

The qualities of a top fantasy receiver include, production, volume and in fact, their team’s quarterback. Phillip Rivers is a future Hall of Famer who has been near consistent on a team that has struggled over the years to get to the playoffs. Allen’s production is among the best. His talent and ability to generate YAC (yards after catch) allows for him to rack up points with each ball that gets thrown to him. 

Over the past few seasons, Allen has been Rivers’ go-to receiver considering Antonio Gates’ declined somewhat before getting released and Hunter Henry, although a rising young star in the league, has not had much time to develop with Rivers. Allen’s volume could possibly dip due to the emergence of Mike Williams, however Williams was injured for a good amount of time in 2017 due to a herniated disk injury and has not developed the level of chemistry that Allen has with Rivers.

All-in-all, Allen is a great selection if you are looking for a productive receiver early on in your draft and Antonio Brown, Julio Jones or Odell Beckham have already been selected.