Week 1 of the NFL season is finally here, and boy, oh boy, did it kick off with a bang. The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Baltimore Ravens 27-20, and the Ravens were mere inches from tying the game as time expired.
As we head into the weekend, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh’s brother, Jim Harbaugh, will make his Los Angeles Chargers head coaching debut against the Las Vegas Raiders.
The passing game is a big storyline surrounding the Chargers heading into this season. The team saw wide receivers Keenan Allen and Mike Williams leave town, which has left the Chargers with many questions about the position. They attempted to quell that with wide receiver Ladd McConkey, who they drafted in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Here, utilizing PFN’s Consensus Rankings, I’ll see if it’s worth starting McConkey or veteran Chargers wide receiver Joshua Palmer in fanasty football.
Should You Start Ladd McConkey or Joshua Palmer This Week?
In the Pro Football Network Start/Sit Optimizer, PFN’s Consensus Rankings say that McConkey is the player to start. His projected 9.7 points in PPR leagues include a projection of three catches for 48 yards.
That doesn’t seem like a big stat line, but it outperforms the consensus projection for Palmer (8.6 points).
My ranking for the two Chargers wide receivers aligns with the consensus, as I need to see more before I’m ready to start either as a fantasy asset.
In 2023, with Williams getting hurt and Allen missing the last four games of the season, Palmer managed just 38 receptions for 581 yards and two scores in 10 games, according to TruMedia.
McConkey’s Fantasy Outlook this Week
McConkey is coming in as the starting slot receiver for the Chargers. He’ll face up mostly against nickel corner Nate Hobbs.
In 13 games last season, Hobbs allowed 63 receptions on 82 targets for 588 yards and three touchdowns. There were three games in which he was targeted 11 times or more.
There were five games in which Hobbs allowed six catches or more, including 12 in Week 11 against the Miami Dolphins.
McConkey should see plenty of targets coming out of the slot, but he also has some downfield ability.
McConkey played in just seven games last season with Georgia, and in those games, 38.7% of his targets were 10-19 yards downfield, and 19.4% were 20+ yards.
He has a favorable matchup here with quarterback Justin Herbert, who’s recovering from a foot injury. However, he was a full participant in practice on Thursday, Sept. 5.
Palmer’s Fantasy Outlook this Week
Palmer is another player who was listed on the injury report. He’s dealing with a knee injury but was a full participant in practice.
As a starting outside wide receiver, Palmer will also see some intriguing matchups against Jakorian Bennett and Jack Jones.
Bennett played in just 223 coverage snaps last season and allowed 21 receptions on 32 targets for 270 yards and a touchdown, meaning he allowed a catch about every 10 snaps.
As for Jones, he joined the Raiders in Week 11 last season after previously playing with the Patriots. During his time with the Raiders, Jones allowed 12 catches on 22 targets for 128 yards across 235 coverage snaps.
The Chargers’ other outside wide receiver projects to be Brenden Rice, so I fully expect Jones to try to cover Palmer, as he is the tougher matchup.
There’s some upside, as Palmer averaged 15.3 yards per reception, per TruMedia, but Jones could complicate things.
Kyle Soppe’s Fantasy Outlook for the Chargers’ WRs in Week 1
Joshua Palmer: Palmer enters the season as my most rostered Chargers receiver, and I have hopes that he can earn valuable targets at a high enough level to get onto Flex radars.
That, however, is going to take time in this Jim Harbaugh system, and it’s why I don’t have any receiver on the Chargers’ roster inside of my top 40 at the position this week, even against a defense that allowed the highest red-zone completion percentage in the league last season (68.7%).
You drafted Palmer with the understanding that it could be a slow burn. Stay patient. There is likely to be a receiver from this offense that pushes for a Fllex-worthy ranking with time, but blindly guessing before we have any data is a good way to lose your matchup.
Ladd McConkey: The rookie comes to the pro game with some NFL-ready traits, and we could see him flex his YAC ability from Day 1.
The Raiders, thanks to the presence of Maxx Crosby, had the lowest opponent average depth of throw in 2023 (6.5, NFL average: 7.7), putting McConkey in position to rack up the receptions and show us what he has.
There’s no reason to plug McConkey in just yet, but this is a good spot to see if his skills translate to the speed of the pro game. It could also serve as an indicator of whether he will be a Flex option by the middle of the season as the Chargers’ target hierarchy comes into focus.