How Mike Williams’ Injury Affects Chargers’ Justin Herbert, Austin Ekeler, Keenan Allen, Gerald Everett and More

Mike Williams’ torn ACL in week 3 was yet another season-ending injury to a star player in the NFL. The Los Angeles Chargers veteran wide receiver was leading the team’s passing game and had put up some of the better numbers in the league.

Williams had been targeted 26 times in three games, catching 19 passes for 249 yards and one touchdown. He had played the most snaps of any skill player and was tied with Keenan Allen for the most fantasy points scored.

With Williams now out of the picture, how will the Chargers’ passing game look? What players saw their fantasy stock go up after the injury? Will any players struggle without Williams out on the field? Let’s dive into it all.

Explore the best in-season tool to manage lineup/start decisions including predictive waiver analytics to help prioritize waiver pickups, projections, auction values, trade suggestions, trade value charts, rest of season rankings, power rankings, and tons more with Fantasy Assistant.

Justin Herbert Fantasy Outlook

Since Williams was the top receiving threat for Los Angeles through two games, let’s take a look at how the team’s quarterback will fare without him.

Herbert leads the NFL in completion percentage (74.4%) and is third in passing yards (939) through three weeks. He’s thrown six touchdowns and has yet to throw an interception. Herbert also has one rushing touchdown.

As those numbers indicate, Herbert has been one of the better quarterbacks in the league, despite the team’s 1-2 start. He’s been effective despite being under duress, having been sacked seven times already, which has him on pace to take the most sacks in his career.

Herbert has played a handful of games without Williams over his first three NFL seasons and has played pretty well still. He’s thrown for 1,676 yards, 10 touchdowns and five interceptions across six games.

Herbert will obviously have to go the rest of the season without Williams. It might take a week or two for the Chargers to figure out how to try to replace Williams, but I don’t think Herbert’s numbers will take too big of a hit and I still view him as one of the top fantasy quarterbacks moving forward. He’s a safe start this week in week 4 and until further notice.

Austin Ekeler, Joshua Kelley Fantasy Outlook

While Williams’ absence won’t affect the Chargers’ running backs too much, it’s possible the team leans a little more on its backs to try to replace the talented wideout.

Ekeler is working his way back from an injury himself and could be back as early as this weekend. He totaled over 150 yards and a touchdown in the team’s opening game and should be heavily involved whenever he returns to the lineup. 

The thing that makes Ekeler a great fantasy back is his pass-catching ability. With Williams out, Ekeler could certainly help out a bit in the passing game, so that’s something I’ll be keeping my eye on as the season rolls along.

Kelley is the team’s No. 2 option, but has been the starter for the past couple weeks. He’s nearly up to 150 total yards himself, and he’s also scored once. Kelley isn’t the receiving threat that Ekeler is, but he could see a few more carries a game if the Chargers want to utilize Ekeler as a receiver more often.

Ekeler is still a must start when he’s healthy, even with Williams out of the picture. He’s a dynamic player capable of 100+ total yards and a touchdown every single week, and the likelihood of those stats being reached are even better with another skill player out.

Kelley is likely going to be dropped by a number of fantasy owners as soon as Ekeler makes his return. While that seems like a logical thing to do, I’d actually hold on to Kelley for a couple extra weeks, just to see how the Chargers’ offense utilizes him. If he gets double digit touches a week, he’s certainly worth a roster spot, and could be a fill in when other running backs are hurt or on bye weeks.

Keenan Allen, Joshua Palmer, Quentin Johnston Fantasy Outlook

The remaining Chargers’ receivers are going to be impacted the most without Williams available. We’ll take a look at Allen, Palmer and Johnston, who have played the most snaps among receivers currently on the active roster.

Allen seems like he should be the biggest beneficiary from Williams' injury, but I actually think it hurts his stock a bit. Opposing defenses can now hone in on Allen and force a guy like Palmer or Johnston to beat them instead.

Allen and Williams have been teammates since 2017. Allen has played in 11 career games without Williams, accumulating 788 yards and four touchdowns on 66 catches. He’s had three 100+ yard receiving games, but been held under 50 yards four times.

If you use those numbers as a reference and add a couple extra games, that still makes Allen a strong starting option each week for the rest of the season. There will be weeks where he underperforms, but I’d expect Allen to reach his weekly projections more often than not.

Palmer is the receiver who I view as the biggest beneficiary from Williams’ injury. I wrote a bunch about him earlier this week. Palmer has played 129 offensive snaps so far, hauling in eight of his 13 targets for 83 yards and a touchdown. 

Without Williams on the field in the past two seasons, Palmer has 28 catches for 309 yards and a touchdown across five games. Those aren’t super great numbers, so I’d probably view Palmer as a non-starter for now, but he's one you should add now if you can. If he can consistently catch around five passes and be at or above 50 yards, with an occasional touchdown tossed in, he’s worthy considering in your flex spot a lot of weeks. 

The injury to Williams should give some more playing time to Johnston, the team’s first-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. Johnston has played just 48 combined offensive snaps through three weeks, catching five of the eight passes thrown his way for just 26 yards.

Johnston is not worthy of a start at this point, and he’s likely available in your league’s waiver wire, as our charts show him at just 49% owned. Unless he breaks out in an upcoming game, I’d like to see his snaps and touches for the next couple weeks before I’d consider adding him to my team or starting lineup. 

Gerald Everett, Donald Parham Fantasy Outlook

Everett and Parham have both played over 100 offensive snaps for the Chargers through three weeks. 

Everett is the team’s starting tight end and has 11 catches on 12 targets so far. He’s gone for 98 yards and caught both of his red zone targets.

Parham has made the most of his touches so far, scoring on half of his six grabs. He’s been targeted seven times in total, and has just 32 receiving yards.

Both will see plenty of snaps on the field, but I don’t view either as a starter at this point. Everett is currently owned in just 36% of leagues, while Parham was owned in just 1%, although both of those numbers should rise before week 4 kicks off. Everett is the one I’d grab if you have a choice, as the only way Parham will outscore him for the season is if he keeps scoring touchdowns.