• Ladd McConkey has a clear path to the slot role: After Keenan Allen and Mike Williams‘ departures, the Los Angeles Chargers depth chart is wide open with McConkey likely to play in the slot.
• The Chargers coaching staff is a big reason for concern: Both Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman have been very run-heavy in the NFL, and when their teams pass the ball, they’ve thrown to tight ends more than most.
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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
The player profile series gives the most in-depth view of a player possible using the best data points at PFF’s disposal to look at how good the player has performed, what competition the player has for touches, and how other teammates and coaches will impact each player's performance.
Last updated: 7:15 a.m. Saturday, July 13
Player performance
McConkey wasn’t given a lot of opportunities at Georgia, but whenever he was given the chance he put up elite production. His 4.39 speed should be an asset for the Los Angeles Chargers after getting drafted early in the second round. He not only had a high target rate, but he also consistently caught his passes for at least five yards, giving him an excellent yards per route run against SEC competition.
He primarily played out wide with Georgia but performed better lined up in the slot against zone coverage. It’s worth noting McConkey didn’t play the first few weeks of his final college season, so all of his stats in 2023 were up against SEC competition or in his Bowl game, rather than having his stats padded against other non-conference games.
Competition for touches
Most teams have a very straightforward projection for how their wide receivers will rotate, but the Chargers are not one of those teams.
The majority of McConkey’s first-team reps in OTAs came from the slot, which is where we projected he would play in the NFL in our draft guide. He also took snaps out wide. Just based on past utilization, I’d expect Quentin Johnston and D.J. Chark to fight for snaps as the X receiver while Joshua Palmer and McConkey fight for Z snaps in two receiver sets. Palmer should take the Z snaps in three-receiver sets while McConkey plays in the slot in three-receiver sets.
McConkey will likely need to beat Palmer for the Z spot in two-receiver sets in order to be a fantasy starter. According to my utilization study from earlier this offseason, it’s very hard for a receiver to consistently be worth starting in fantasy football without being the lead X or Z receiver in two-receiver sets.
Luckily for McConkey, all three receivers he’s competing with for targets have PFF receiving grades below 70.0 over the last three years, yards per route run below 1.4 and target rates below 17%. McConkey could lead the team in targets as a rookie.
Impact of teammates
The Chargers coaching staff is a reason to fade the wide receivers on the team in general. Greg Roman has a long history with the Baltimore Ravens where they were a run-first team that focused more on throwing to tight ends than wide receivers. This was also true for Jim Harbaugh during his time as an NFL head coach, as his San Francisco 49ers ran with Frank Gore and threw a lot to Vernon Davis. Ravens wide receivers had the fewest targets from 2019-2022 with Roman as offensive coordinator while the 49ers had the second-fewest targets during Harbaugh’s time as head coach.
Teams generally throw more to outside receivers than the slot, but both Harbaugh’s 49ers and Roman’s Ravens threw more to the slot relative to other teams compared to how often they threw out wide compared to other teams.
The other bright light is they have Justin Herbert at quarterback, who is a better thrower than Harbaugh or Roman have had. Herbert has plenty of experience throwing to the slot with Keenan Allen and Herbert has already started praising McConkey. Herbert is the main reason why it’s worth considering any Chargers wide receiver rather than avoiding the entire team’s wide receiver room.
Bottom line
McConkey is worth considering in the middle rounds like all rookie wide receivers with a top-50 draft pick any year. The Chargers' run-first offense is a major reason for concern, but there is also reason to believe McConkey could lead the team in targets if he can play the Z position in two receiver sets more often than not.
Footnotes
- Statistics for the tables and charts were generally chosen based on their ability to predict future fantasy performance on either per game or per opportunity basis, or chosen for their ability to describe the player relative to other players at the same position.
- Opportunities for this purpose are defined by passing dropbacks, rushing attempts and receiving routes run.
- Numbers are either by season or based on the last three years. For rookies, only college numbers are included. For non-rookies, only NFL numbers are included, even if they played in college in the last three years.
- Because college competition is relatively easier than NFL competition, it can be expected that most rookies will see a decline in their numbers compared to their historic numbers.
- For all of the tables in this article, colors range from blue (good or high) to red (bad or low).
- All percentiles or colors compare the given player to other players with a high sample of opportunities. Generally, it’s one-third of the possible opportunities given the sample. If the player in question doesn’t have enough opportunities, they are still compared, even though a player could look good or bad on that small sample size which might not be as predictive.
- Information on running back utilization classifications and importance can be found here, wide receiver here and tight end here.
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