Draft Or Pass: Kennan Allen

With Tyrod Taylor taking over at quarterback for the Chargers in 2020, fantasy football players are ignoring Allen’s productivity from the last three years and fading him in drafts.

Bill Enright | Jun 18, 2020

Since 2017, Keenan Allen’s 303 catches is third behind only Michael Thomas and DeAndre Hopkins. Allen’s also in the top five for most yards with 3,788 in that same time span. While his touchdowns don’t top the charts he is rather consistent in his scoring with six touchdowns in each of the last three years. To put it more simply, Allen is one of the most consistent and productive wide receivers in the entire NFL the last three years. Despite finishing in the top eight for the position, Allen’s 2020 fantasy football Average Draft Position is 42nd overall in PPR formats where he’s coming off the board as the 19th wide receiver.

The drop in ADP is clearly due to concerns at the quarterback position. For the first time in Allen’s career, he won’t be catching passes from Philip Rivers but will instead be targeted by Tyrod Taylor (or perhaps eventually Justin Herbert).

ChargerReport’s Jason B. Hirschhorn and Sports Illustrated’s fantasy football analyst Ben Heisler discuss Allen’s fantasy football value in the attached video.

Read the transcript for more of their analysis:

Bill Enright: Our fantasy football analysis continues here at Sports Illustrated as we take a look at one of the most consistent receivers in all of football these last three seasons, Keenan Allen from the Los Angeles Chargers. Here with me to discuss Mr. Allen is Ben Heisler, SI fantasy football analyst and also ChargerReport editor, Jason B. Hirschhorn. Jason, I'm going to go to you first because no one knows the Chargers better than you. A lot of people are a little bit down on Keenan Allen this year, but if you look at his stats, he's been up there with the elites at the receiver position. Is it really just a matter of not trusting his quarterback?

Jason Hirschhorn: The quarterback is part and parcel with any conversation with Keenan Allen. And obviously this will be the first year that he plays without Philip Rivers. That said, we've seen Keenan Allen be productive in a variety of ways within the Chargers' offense. If you look back to last season, the first three games of the year, he compiled 404 yards, was leading the NFL at that time. So even if there is a downtick in passing attempts because of the move off of Philip Rivers to either Tyrod Taylor or the rookie, Justin Herbert, he's still expected to be very productive in that offense. I think he's going to be a value in fantasy this year.

Bill Enright: Ben, let me go over to you right now. Allen is listed as the 19th wide receiver, according to the latest ADP data coming off the board. 42nd overall player in PPR formats. Are you drafting or passing on Keenan Allen in 2020?

Ben Heisler: I agree with both of you guys that he's being a bit undervalued this season, but I still think there is going to be a downgrade with Tyrod Taylor. His average depth of the target is going to be substantially lower because Philip Rivers was that type of quarterback that would take more downfield chances. Tyrod is going to incorporate Austin Ekeler into the passing game the way that he was a season ago. And yes, Keenan Allen was the WR6 in PPR a season ago. But right now they've made more of a focus on the offensive side of the ball. Their offensive coordinator, Shayne Steichen, had really tried to emphasize more of a run-pass balance in the offense compared to years past where Phillip was chucking the ball all over the field. So I do think you're going to start to see more of that with Tyrod running the offense. Keenan Allen is a very safe pick going in that early part of the 4th round. Talking about guys like D.J. Chark and Calvin Ridley, who are going right in that same range. I think I'd rather go with the upside there. So, Keenan Allen is still a great fantasy play, but just more of a high floor guy as opposed to a high ceiling guy this year.

Bill Enright: That's a really good way to put it, Ben. Jason, we appreciate your time as well. Plenty more fantasy football analysis. You can find it by going to SI.com/fantasy.

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Published Jun 18, 2020

BILL ENRIGHT

Bill Enright is the Managing Editor of Sports Illustrated's Sports Betting and Fantasy division. He's an award winning fantasy football analyst and has a winning betting record on NFL Player Props since 2017. Follow Bill on Twitter: @BillEnright