- Three Los Angeles Chargers wide receivers shine: Keenan Allen joined Ladd McConkey and Quentin Johnston in the starting lineup. Each tallied more than 65 receiving yards, and they combined for three touchdowns.
- Running back questions answered: There were questions about how snaps would be distributed in both backfields. While none of the running backs recorded many fantasy points, there were generally positive signs for Isiah Pacheco of the Kansas City Chiefs and Omarion Hampton of the Chargers.
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PFF’s fantasy football recap focuses on player usage and stats, breaking down all the vital information you need to achieve fantasy success in 2025.
Omarion Hampton dominates the Chargers‘ running back workload: Hampton started the game and was the clear primary running back in all situations.
The Chargers moved on from their top two runners from last season, J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards, and invested in top free-agent running back Najee Harris and first-round pick Omarion Hampton. Harris missed all of training camp due to an eye injury. However, Harris was a full participant in practice all week and declared ready to play. Hampton was considered a top-20 running back in fantasy drafts, while Harris was a late-round pick.
Hampton’s playing time is everything fantasy managers could have wanted. He played each of the first 14 snaps, including the first two full drives, before taking any plays off. He played on early downs, on third downs and in short-yardage situations. The general assumption before this game was that Hampton could be started each week, and this contest made it even clearer.
Harris could cut into Hampton’s playing time more than he did in this game once he gets more practice with the team, but at least for now, this was an auspicious start for the rookie. Unfortunately, his stat line didn’t live up to his snap count, but that should change against other opponents.
First look at the rebuilt Chargers wide receiver room: Los Angeles made several changes to its wide receiver room this offseason.
While Ladd McConkey and Quentin Johnston remained at the top of the Chargers’ depth chart, the team brought back long-time franchise presence Keenan Allen after his one year with the Chicago Bears, and added second-round pick Tre Harris and fifth-round pick KeAndre Lambert-Smith.
McConkey and Johnston were the clear main wide receivers in two-wide receiver sets, similar to last season. Allen was fairly consistently joining them in three-wide receiver sets. Both McConkey and Allen have primarily been slot receivers in their careers. McConkey remained the primary slot receiver, but he also lined up on the outside more frequently than last season.
Lambert-Smith was mostly Johnston’s backup at the X-receiver spot, which is what the Chargers indicated in the preseason. Surprisingly, Derius Davis was the backup to both McConkey in two-receiver sets and Allen in three-receiver sets. Harris’ playing time was limited to 10 personnel. This makes it unlikely that Harris will have fantasy value anytime soon. Even if there were an injury to McConkey or Allen, Davis would take a lot of that playing time.
McConkey remains a must-start player, while both Johnston and Allen are worth rostering in most leagues. The Chargers might not need to pass as much in future weeks, but if every game is like this, both Johnston and Allen will be worth considering in starting lineups. While you never want to give up on a rookie after one week, it is perfectly fine to drop Harris for another high-upside, young player, who appears to be a bigger part of their team’s plans.
A tight end rotation to avoid: The Chargers’ Tyler Conklin and Will Dissly seem unlikely to produce much consistent fantasy value.
Los Angeles’ offense featured one receiving tight end and one run-blocking tight end last season. The unit rarely used two-tight end sets, opting for a run-blocking tight end with fullback Scott Matlock in run situations and 11 personnel for passing situations. The Chargers were the rare team to use both 21 and 22 personnel more often than 12 personnel. They started with Dissly as their blocking tight end and Hayden Hurst as their receiving tight end. Once Hurst dealt with injuries, Dissly moved to the receiving tight end role and Tucker Fisk became the blocking tight end. Los Angeles moved on from Hurst and backup Stone Smartt this offseason, replacing them with veteran Conklin and fifth-round rookie Oronde Gadsden.
Gadsden and Fisk were both healthy inactives, leaving Los Angeles with only Conklin and Dissly. The two split time, with Dissly tending to play on early downs and Conklin on passing downs. While Dissly was on the field more often on early downs, his loss on third downs led to an overall decrease in snaps. For Conklin, this was a significantly reduced role relative to his time with the Jets. To make matters worse, the Chargers used 10 personnel on five plays, after doing so only 13 times last season. This means there were several passing plays where neither tight end was on the field.
This may be the norm for the Chargers, that one of the tight ends puts up a decent fantasy performance. We probably won’t know which tight end will outperform the other from one week to another. Gadsden could also get involved later on this season. Neither Conklin nor Dissly should be regularly rostered in fantasy leagues. Only consider them when bye weeks occur for a one-week replacement.
Isiah Pacheco regains early-down role: Pacheco was playing much more on early downs compared to the end of last season, even if the box score didn’t show it.
The Chiefs had several questions at running back heading into Week 1. The first is how much Isiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt would split snaps on early downs. Pacheco consistently played less than 50% of snaps after returning from injury last year, splitting time with Hunt, despite averaging 60% of snaps in 2023 and more than 66% of snaps in his first two games last season. The second question is who would play on third downs. Jerick McKinnon was the Chiefs’ third-down back from 2021 to 2023, while Samaje Perine handled the role in 2024, but neither remained on the roster. Finally, how much would seventh-round rookie Brashard Smith mix in?
Pacheco played the clear majority of snaps on early downs. Smith also mixed in and was the primary backup on early downs, with Hunt still staying somewhat involved. Hunt took over as the third-down back, which is a role he held with the Cleveland Browns. While Perine was consistently playing in the two-minute drill last season, it was Pacheco who took all of the snaps in the two-minute drill to end the first half. Typically, if a team has a clear early-down back who is also playing in the two-minute drill, they are a must-start fantasy player.
Interestingly, Hunt was consistently on the field for short-yardage situations. They were all third and fourth downs, but the Chiefs haven’t necessarily used their third-down backs on third-and-short in the past. However, they also didn’t favor Hunt over Pacheco in short-yardage in the past, either. I would be inclined to say this was simply how this game played out, and that Pacheco will see more short-yardage and, particularly, goal-line opportunities in the future.
This didn’t play out in the box score, as the Chiefs were constantly playing from behind. However, we expect them to be leading in most games, which should lead to more opportunities for Pacheco. He is a player to buy low after this week.
Monitor Xavier Worthy’s health: Worthy suffered a shoulder injury after the first three plays and was later ruled out for the game.
The Chiefs reworked their wide receiver room before the 2024 season, adding free agent Hollywood Brown and Worthy to join Rashee Rice. We saw the trio together for one snap in one preseason game last season and have yet to see them play alongside each other since. That will continue to be true for the first six weeks this season as Rice serves a suspension. The Chiefs drafted Jalen Royals in the fourth round this season, partly due to his similarities to Rice, but Royals missed this game due to a knee injury.
The Chiefs’ top three wide receivers in this game were the same as the Super Bowl, but they moved on from DeAndre Hopkins and Justin Watson and replaced them with Tyquan Thornton and Jason Brownlee. This left Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster as the two primary receivers, with Tyquan Thornton joining them in three-receiver sets. Brown was the primary slot receiver, with Smith-Schuster at X and Thornton at Z, although the Chiefs move their wide receivers around more than most teams. Worthy did not play any of his three snaps out of the slot, despite excelling there in the playoffs last season.
Brown was the target hog of the group, logging several short catches along with a deep 49-yard reception. Brown is the best waiver target of the group, but his role may be reduced or changed once Royals is healthy. Smith-Schuster finished second on the team in receiving yards, and he could also be considered in some leagues depending on how long Worthy is out.
Miscellaneous Notes
• Running back Elijah Mitchell and tight end Jared Wiley were healthy inactives for Kansas City.
• Travis Kelce played slightly less than usual. He generally plays less in big wins and more in close games and losses, so this was notable. However, even with slightly fewer snaps, his playing time and routes totals will be better than most tight ends in the league.
Table Notes
• Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. The other three stats have these plays removed.
• Targets may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy would be from a clear thrown-away pass, where the NFL may give the target to the nearest receiver, while this data will not.
• Carries are only on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles won’t count for the total number of carries in the game.
