If you had told me Chargers WR Keenan Allen was going to be the team's No. 1 passing weapon at all this year, I would have highly disagreed with you. Here was a kid who was talented, yet considered a bit more raw than other rookie receivers who came out in this year's draft. But because of injuries, Allen has propelled himself to the top of the Chargers' passing attack and is this week's No. 1 waiver wire pickup in my Week 7 Waiver Wire Pickups article.
Like others, I was skeptical that Allen's streak of big games were truly legit. With a combined 30 yards off 3 catches in the first 3 weeks of the season (including -4 yards against the Titans), I was skeptical to rank him as a waiver option after his Week 4 game against the Cowboys. The Cowboys rank in the bottom half of the league against fantasy receivers. In that game, Allen caught 5 passes for 80 yards. Did I think it was a fluke? Of course. I didn't have any other reason to think otherwise since he had done nothing earlier in the year. And it was a plus matchup.
Then came the Week 5 inter-divisional game against the Raiders. I still wasn't convinced as Allen was still behind guys like Danny Woodhead, Antonio Gates and Vincent Brown in the pecking order for looks. But he caught his first touchdown of the season and raked in 9 targets. I was still a bit skeptical, but I was keeping my eye on him.
Monday night against the Colts made me a believer.
Allen put on a clinic against the Colts secondary, reeling in 9 passes off a game high 12 targets for 107 yards and his second score of the season. His most memorable moment came when he beat out both Vontae Davis and Delano Howell to make a "back of the end-zone" grab for his score. Clearly Philip Rivers is trusting Allen more and more. It showed last night, which is why I finally bumped Allen up to the top of the waiver list.
I was actually surprised how low his ownership percentages were in Yahoo (37%) and ESPN (6.8%) leagues when I looked him up. I would have thought he would have been nabbed last week, pushing his numbers higher. I took him in one of my leagues just to stash him away. My only regret was that I didn't start him. So if he is on your wire, pounce now because it's doubtful he makes it out of Week 7 unowned. He's a WR3 who is on the rise.