For six straight years, two receivers from the same team have finished as top-12 fantasy receivers. It’s so common, Green Bay and New Orleans both produced two top receivers last year. So which teams have the best shot to continue this tradition? Let’s look at some teams that didn’t accomplish that feat in 2016 but could in 2017.
Keenan Allen and Tyrell Williams, Los Angeles Chargers
Even though Allen is much more well known in fantasy circles, it’s actually Williams who has the lone top-12 fantasy season between them, which happened last season. Williams was able to accomplish that by doing what Allen never has — play in all 16 games. On the season, Williams had 69 receptions for 1,059 yards and seven touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Allen has been beset by injuries during his entire four-year career, especially the last two seasons, when he’s played in only nine of a possible 32 games. It’s unfortunate, especially after Allen burst on the season his rookie year with 71 catches for 1,046 yards and eight touchdowns. Since then, he’s failed to top 800 receiving yards and has just eight touchdowns total in the three years since.
So why could this be the year? If Allen stays healthy, there are plenty of targets and yards for Allen to gobble up. Consider that behind Williams, the second and third receivers (Dontrelle Inman and Travis Benjamin) totaled 172 targets, 105 receptions, 1,478 yards and eight touchdowns. Plus, with Allen’s career catch rate of 68.6 percent, if he is able to see as many targets as those two, he’d actually have 118 receptions instead of the 105 that Inman and Benjamin accumulated.
If Williams can just repeat his modest numbers and Allen can stay healthy, there’s no reason the Chargers’ first year in Los Angeles can't be successful.