Mike Williams, Austin Ekeler Fantasy Outlook After Hunter Henry's Knee Injury

The Los Angeles Chargers are going to be without starting tight end Hunter Henry for at least a month, and perhaps longer, after he suffered a tibia plateau fracture in his left knee during their 30-24 overtime win against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 1. 

It's a major loss for the Chargers and a tough blow for Henry, who missed all of last season with a torn ACL. For fantasy players, it begs the question of how it will affect the stock of the team's other skill-position players, namely wideout Mike Williams and running back Austin Ekeler. 

While Keenan Allen will remain a solid WR1 as the team's top target in the passing game and Philip Rivers always seems to be in the low-QB1 to high-QB2 range no matter who is catching passes, the best-case scenario for fantasy players who have rostered Williams is that he sees a greater target share with Henry out of action.

That's if Williams is even healthy:

Here's how the Week 1 targets and production broke down for the primary Chargers pass-catchers:

• Allen: Eight receptions for 128 yards and a score on 10 targets.
• Ekeler: Six receptions for 96 yards and two scores on seven targets.
• Henry: Four receptions for 60 yards on five targets.
• Williams: Two receptions for 29 yards on three targets.
• Travis Benjamin: Two receptions for 12 yards on three targets.

It wasn't a promising start for Williams, who had a solid sophomore season in 2018, catching 66 passes for 664 yards (15.4 yards per catch) and 10 touchdowns. In PPR leagues, 31.1 percent of Williams' fantasy value came from touchdown production. That number likely isn't sustainable.

For instance, Allen caught 97 passes for 1,196 yards and six scores, with just 14.2 percent of his value coming from touchdowns. Receivers who see major targets and post a high number of receptions and yardage are generally more trustworthy that receivers who mostly gain fantasy value come from touchdowns.

It just seems unlikely that Williams' role is going to change dramatically with Henry out of action. Williams was never likely to play the role of safety net or be an over-the-middle threat like Henry. He seems far more likely to remain a downfield threat, making him more of a boom-or-bust option.

He remains a WR4 with flex upside against poor pass defenses.

But Ekeler's ceiling only raises. Already a solid RB2, the loss of Henry could mean even more dump-offs and short passes to Ekeler, who already saw 18 touches in Week 1, also leading the Chargers in carries (12) and rushing yards (58) while scoring three touchdowns in total. 

Frankly, Ekeler has moved into the RB1 conversation with Henry's unfortunate injury:

The only thing hanging over Ekeler's value is the possibility that Melvin Gordon could end his holdout. In that case, the Chargers would either give Gordon the featured role or, more likely, split the touches between the two players, hurting the value of both.

But even in that latter scenario, Ekeler would have flex upside given his impact in the passing game. He's a very valuable player for fantasy enthusiasts going forward, in other words.

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