Mike Williams has a shoulder injury that's expected to sideline him for part (all?) of September. Often when a starting wideout is going to miss time, you take a look at the fill-in candidates, wondering if one of them will put up significant production. That's probably not going to happen for the Chargers.
The Chargers have Keenan Allen, but their other wide receivers on the roster after Williams are a totally inexperienced group. The four players -- rookies Joe Reed and K.J. Hill, and second-year wideouts Jalen Guyton and Jason Moore -- have combined for 2 NFL catches, both by Moore. The rookies were selected in the fifth and seventh rounds, and the second-year guys were undrafted, so we're not talking about highly regarded prospects.
And Tyrod Taylor isn't the kind of quarterback who's going to elevate these guys into big numbers. In his last two seasons worth of starts -- 30 games in Buffalo, and 2 games with Cleveland before being benched for Baker Mayfield -- he's averaged 196 passing yards and 1 touchdown pass per game. In only five of those games (bolded in the table below) did he reach 250 passing yards, and in only eight of them did he throw more than 1 TD.
| TYROD TAYLOR, LAST 32 STARTS | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Opp | Pass | TD | Run | TD |
| 2016 | BAL | 111 | 0 | 11 | 0 |
| 2016 | NYJ | 297 | 3 | 25 | 0 |
| 2016 | ARI | 119 | 0 | 76 | 1 |
| 2016 | NWE | 246 | 1 | 28 | 0 |
| 2016 | LAR | 124 | 2 | 28 | 0 |
| 2016 | SFO | 179 | 2 | 68 | 0 |
| 2016 | MIA | 221 | 1 | 35 | 1 |
| 2016 | NWE | 183 | 0 | 48 | 1 |
| 2016 | SEA | 289 | 1 | 43 | 1 |
| 2016 | CIN | 166 | 0 | 39 | 0 |
| 2016 | JAX | 166 | 1 | 38 | 1 |
| 2016 | OAK | 191 | 0 | 30 | 1 |
| 2016 | PIT | 228 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 2016 | CLE | 174 | 1 | 49 | 0 |
| 2016 | MIA | 329 | 3 | 60 | 0 |
| 2017 | NYJ | 224 | 2 | 38 | 0 |
| 2017 | CAR | 125 | 0 | 55 | 0 |
| 2017 | DEN | 213 | 2 | 13 | 0 |
| 2017 | ATL | 182 | 1 | 12 | 0 |
| 2017 | CIN | 166 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| 2017 | TAM | 268 | 1 | 53 | 0 |
| 2017 | OAK | 165 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2017 | NYJ | 285 | 2 | 35 | 1 |
| 2017 | NOR | 56 | 0 | 27 | 0 |
| 2017 | LAC | 158 | 1 | 38 | 1 |
| 2017 | KAN | 183 | 1 | 27 | 0 |
| 2017 | NWE | 65 | 0 | 32 | 0 |
| 2017 | MIA | 224 | 1 | 42 | 1 |
| 2017 | NWE | 281 | 0 | 16 | 0 |
| 2017 | MIA | 204 | 1 | 35 | 0 |
| 2018 | PIT | 197 | 1 | 77 | 1 |
| 2018 | NOR | 246 | 1 | 26 | 0 |
| Average | 196 | 1 | 35 | 0.3 | |
Taylor averaged 35 rushing yards in those games (like passing for an extra 70 yards in fantasy scoring), with a touchdown about every three games. He himself has some fantasy appeal.
But expecting him to produce a viable pass catcher behind Keenan Allen, Hunter Henry and Austin Ekeler, especially if Williams isn't available, looks unlikely. Even Williams, when healthy, will be hard-pressed to put up good numbers with Taylor running the offense.
--Andy Richardson