Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Fantasy football previews continue as we take a look at the Los Angeles Chargers and some
00:05of the studs and sleepers from their roster in 2020.
00:09Here with me, Ben Heisler, Sports Illustrated's fantasy football analyst, and also Jason B.
00:14Hirshhorn, who covers the Chargers for Sports Illustrated.
00:17Jason, I'll start with you first.
00:19Let's talk about tight end Hunter Henry, currently coming off fantasy draft boards as the number
00:24nine tight end, according to the latest average draft position data.
00:28Are you buying into Henry as one of those players that either Tyrod Taylor or Justin
00:32Herbert will look at early and often this coming season?
00:37If Hunter Henry can stay healthy, then absolutely.
00:39If you look at this offense, it's not just the change of quarterback.
00:42There's also the change that happened last year, midway through the year to Shane Steichen,
00:47the offensive coordinator.
00:48There was a shift to the tight end position in terms of the passing game.
00:52I think you're going to see that continue.
00:53I think that actually explains why Hunter Henry, who missed so much time early in the
00:56year, ended up finishing with pretty good numbers.
00:59So again, with Henry, the issue is always injuries.
01:01He's had several years that were ravaged by those injuries, but if he can play the majority
01:06of the season, if he can play frankly the entire season healthy, then you're going to
01:09see a pretty productive season from him.
01:12Ben, let me go over to you.
01:14Let's talk about Austin Eckler.
01:15I know he had a top five finish in PPR formats in 2019.
01:20For 2020 draft, he's coming off the board around pick number 23, the 12th running back
01:26coming off boards.
01:27Are you buying into Eckler at that price?
01:29It's hard not to considering what his role in the offense is going to be.
01:32And Jason brought up such a good point with the change in offensive philosophy when the
01:36new offensive coordinator, Shane Steichen, came into play.
01:40It became more of a run balanced offense as opposed to very pass heavy in years past with
01:44Phillip Rivers chucking it all over the field.
01:47We talked about Keenan Allen just a few short days ago, how he's still a high floor wide
01:50receiver, but he's not going to be the type of guy that maybe fantasy owners have come
01:54to rely on.
01:56His role is clearly defined in this offense.
01:59He's going to catch a ton of passes.
02:00They're still going to use Justin Jackson on first and second down.
02:03But the way that they move Austin Eckler around and how versatile he is as a receiver just
02:08allows him to have a fairly safe floor as a high upside PPR back.
02:12He can do everything in this offense, so there's no reason for me to shy away from him.
02:16I don't worry about injury concerns with him, just on how they use him alone.
02:21As Ben mentioned, we also have player analysis for guys like Keenan Allen, Justin Herbert,
02:26Tyrod Taylor, all of the Chargers playmakers from a fantasy football perspective.
02:30You can check them out by going to SI.com slash fantasy.