The San Diego Chargers have some injuries to deal with and Branden Oliver could be the best fantasy football free agent pickup to help replace Ryan Mathews and Danny Woodhead for Philip Rivers and the team has a number of other fantasy pickups that could help moving forward, including Malcom Floyd, Keenan Allen and Ladarius Green this season.
The Chargers have been one of the best teams in the AFC early in the season and now they are down Woodhead for the year and Mathews for a bit. The team has Donald Brown coming in and he is a solid fantasy starter, but the team will also be using Oliver and that gives fantasy owners another handcuff option to pick up after Mathews was injured. The Chargers love to use their backs out of the backfield and that gives Brown and Oliver solid PPR value until Mathews can return.
Oliver has the chance to be a solid option for the team moving forward with the injures they have and head coach Mike McCoy said that he has the chance to be a main option in the offense. McCoy uses his offense in different ways and the Chargers have been one of the best teams at getting different personnel in spots and they should be able to do that with Oliver until Mathews can return. Oliver is an undrafted rookie and he is a strong runner with good hands and he led the team in rushing last week against the Jaguars.
Oliver had just 23 yards on nine carries, but the team will be getting him and Donald Brown the ball more and they are solid handcuff options moving forward. Oliver had four catches in the game against the Jaguars for 33 yards and if he can do that on a consistent basis, he will be on the field more. Oliver is a strong flex option and a solid RB3 or RB4 option in leagues, but if owners are desperate with injuries, he is a solid pick over Alfred Blue and Terrance West until Mathews returns.
Royal had back to back multiple touchdown games and he has been one of the biggest surprises for the Chargers and for fantasy owners this season. Royal has 17 catches on the year and four of them have been for TDs and he has had solid yardage with over 230 yards and he has been right in the mix for Philip Rivers all season. Last year Royal had the most catches since back in 2010 and he also had a career best eight touchdowns and clearly he has a knack for getting into the endzone.
Keenan Allen has had strong start to the season again and that has helped Royal get open more. Allen is banged up a bit, but it's not serious and so far this season he has 22 catches for 244 yards and one score and he is coming off of a great rookie season. Last year Allen had 71 catches for over 1000 yards with eight touchdowns and he is on pace to get there again. Eddie Royal and Oliver are the two best pickups this week and going forward they could be sleepers for the Chargers and for fantasy owners.
