Vincent Brown Injury-Fantasy Football and the Chargers WR Situation

Fake football has its benefits as teams prepare for the upcoming season, but as we are reminded every year it has its dangers as well. The most devastating part of preseason football is the injuries to key players that affect the real games and can change a team’s season in an instant. An instant that counts for absolutely nothing.

The Chargers are the latest team to fall victim to the dreaded serious preseason injury as their starting Wide Receiver and a player many though could help fill the void left by departing free agent Vincent Jackson left the field on a cart. Vincent Brown (pictured above) suffered a broken ankle and after surgery will require at least eight weeks to recover. That timetable puts his return at no earlier than week 6. Brown was trending upward and was reaching WR3 status in some rankings. Now he’s little more than a late-round flier if your league allows for a player to go on IR or you have deep enough rosters to stash him.

Brown’s loss follows an injury to starting running back Ryan Mathews and leaves the Chargers in a precarious position offensively. Mathews is vowing a week one return, but Norv Turner will have to manage his touches until he’s fully healed.

Philip Rivers had a rough year last year and many are expecting a bounceback campaign, but who does he have to throw to now? It’s a vital question to answer because there is definitely value in the Chargers passing game. Vincent Jackson and Antonio Gates have been solid fantasy plays the last few years, so who do we look to this year? Figure that out, and you’ve got a great sleeper pick.

Here’s my quick take on the Chargers receiving weapons:

Antonio Gates: Gates was already posed to have a great year and with the questions at wide-out he most likely will be the most targeted Charger especially early in the season. He’s solidly the number three TE behind Rob Gronkowski and Jimmy Graham. The injury to Brown helps him pull ahead of Jason Witten (dealing with his own injury issues) and the Davis boys (Fred and Vernon).

Malcom Floyd: Floyd becomes a solid sleeper pick as a WR3. Many had him ranked in the mid-30s for WR before the injury and now he becomes the clear #1 target with Brown down. Floyd could easily be a top ten receiver in some weeks but may struggle with consistency even as Vincent Jackson did last season. Floyd has had some big games in the past including seven catches for 127 yards and a touchdown the final week of last year in Oakland. His limiting factor this far in his career has been nagging injuries that have forced him to miss games but he’s had an uneventful camp and has the rapport with Rivers from their previous season together. I’d be very happy to grab him as my third wide-out on draft day. I would make sure to have a solid fourth in case of injury, but Floyd has big upside and may be overlooked by some as a “boring” pick.

Robert Meachem: Through two games in preseason, Meachem has been targeted on three passes and none have been incomplete. Unfortunately for him and Rivers, two of them were caught by the other team. He’s just starting to work with Rivers and may need some time. He’s a WR4 in my opinion although some have him ranked ahead of Malcom Floyd. I wouldn’t reach for him as a third wide-out unless he has a breakout game the third week of preseason.

Eddie Royal: Royal is expected to start in the slot and is outside the top 200 on most big boards. Royal showed flashes with the Brocos but has been derailed by injury woes for much of his career. Vincent Brown was viewed by many as the insurance policy for the impending Royal injury, but Royal will now be counted on to carry more of the load in San Diego.

The Chargers other depth-chart receivers are Buffalo castoff Roscoe Parish and former Tampa Bay return-man Michael Spurlock. Neither is expected to have consistent fantasy value but if the run of injuries continues for the Chargers they may be pressed into bigger roles.

It’s somewhat ironic that the receiver that was the healthiest Chargers wide-out historically is the one that went down in preseason and it may be trouble ahead for San Diego if another receiver gets hurt.

I like Malcom Floyd to be the receiver you want this year in SD. I think if he can stay on the field he can easily get 1,000 yards this year with some solid TD numbers.Antonio Gates should once again be a top five TE now that his foot injuries are a thing of the past. In addition I expect Rivers to bounce back just fine and be a top seven QB.

Injuries continue to pile up throughout the preseason for all the NFL teams so visit FantasyCPR.com for all your draft coverage and follow us on twitter @FantasyCPR for the latest news and injury reports.