Things haven’t exactly gone how Keenan Allen fantasy football owners envisioned as the 2017 season unfolds. He’s had some ups and downs this season, and he has fallen from the ranks of the no-doubt starters to a questionable weekly proposition. The knock on Allen has always been injuries, and when he suits up Sunday, he will have played nine games this year, as many as he played in 2015 and 2016 combined, so Allen owners have won that particular gamble. Does his new-found durability mean that you can put him into your lineups weekly? Or even this weekend against the Jacksonville Jaguars?
Keenan Allen’s already had two distinct seasons this year. In his first four games, he had 24 catches for 334 yards on 40 targets. He had just one touchdown, but that put him on pace for over 1,300 yards, which was plenty to bank weekly with touchdown upside. Since then, however, he’s had just 33 targets, catching just under half of them (16) for just 214 yards. He has no touchdowns in that span. Those facts aren’t even the worrying part of his recent production downturn. He has descending targets in each of those four games, getting 12, 9, 7 and 5 targets in that span. That does not bode well at all for Allen, who takes on a stout Jacksonville defense this week.
The Jaguars are not just stout, they are absolutely devastating for wide receivers. They’ve allowed just one wide receiver the dignity of getting over seventy yards against them, and have allowed just one WR the privilege of a touchdown. They take stifling to the next level, and even going into the slot doesn’t help you. A further example of how they crush opposing wide receivers? The two wide receivers to get over six fantasy points against them? Antonio Brown and DeAndre Hopkins. Maybe you’ve heard of them, they’re literally two of the top five WRs in the game no matter how you want to chop it up.
Keenan Allen has been on a steady downward slope this season. His targets have completely evaporated as he enters his contest with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Only top-five wide receivers have had even halfway decent against the Jags this year. Unfortunately for Keenan Allen owners, he isn’t a top-five receiver, so he has little chance of even being halfway decent. Keep him benched this week if you can help it.
