Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen is unlikely to play Thursday night against the Kansas City Chiefs, according to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero.

Allen suffered a hamstring injury during his team's Week 1 game against the Las Vegas Raiders, which was a disappointing development for the wide receiver after he played at least 14 games in each of the last five seasons.

Pelissero reported the Chargers are optimistic right now that Allen's injury won't leave him out for an extended spell.

Durability was a concern early in his career when he appeared in eight games in 2015 and one game in 2016.

When healthy, Allen is a top-notch wide receiver with five Pro Bowl selections and five seasons of more than 1,000 receiving yards on his resume. His production will be difficult to replicate if he is sidelined following this setback.

If that is the case, look for the Chargers to turn toward Mike Williams, DeAndre Carter and Joshua Palmer in the aerial attack.

Los Angeles Chargers star Justin Herbert continues to impress in his third NFL season.

"Herbert might be the best quarterback in the league," a veteran coach said, per Mike Sando of The Athletic.

The coach was especially impressed with Herbert's third-quarter touchdown pass to Gerald Everett:

everything about this >>>>@lightningstrk12 | 📺 CBS pic.twitter.com/MX4hBQ1voO

— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) September 11, 2022

"He scrambled to his left," the coach explained. "The tight end was running a flat route, and he turned up the sideline, and Herbert is running full speed to his left. What you normally do is throw it over the top and see if the guy can go get it. But the defender had good coverage. So he throws it to his back shoulder. He is on a dead run to his left and it is a total improvisation, and he just hits him. It is unbelievable. The guy is so natural."

It was one of three touchdown passes for Herbert in Sunday's 24-19 win over the Las Vegas Raiders at SoFi Stadium.

The 24-year-old already has a Pro Bowl selection and an Offensive Rookie of the Year award in his first two NFL seasons, tallying 9,350 passing yards and 69 touchdowns against 25 interceptions in this span. With his continued production to start 2022, he has a serious argument as the best quarterback in football.

Los Angeles Chargers star receiver Keenan Allen suffered a hamstring injury in Sunday's game against the Las Vegas Raiders and was ruled out for the remainder of the contest.

While Los Angeles is surely hoping Allen won't miss significant time, any potential absence for the 30-year-old will impact the team's passing attack. But what would it mean from a fantasy football perspective? Let's take a look.

Fantasy football managers can expect a bump in production from Chargers receiver Mike Williams, who proved himself as a dependable option on the outside with a breakout season in 2021. He finished with career highs of 76 catches and 1,146 yards while adding nine touchdowns.

Williams undoubtedly benefitted from the attention Allen drew on the opposite side, but he shouldn't have much trouble moving into the No. 1 role. The Clemson alum is the favorite big-play receiver of Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert, as he averaged 15.1 yards per catch last season. He should be considered a must-start if Allen misses any time.

Sixth-year wideout DeAndre Carter, who is in his first year in Los Angeles, could also benefit from Allen's absence. He has never recorded over 300 receiving yards in a single season, but he has the opportunity to change that in the Chargers' aggressive passing game. He already caught his first touchdown of the year on Sunday against the Raiders.

If Carter is in line for more playing time, he should be a popular waiver-wire add for fantasy managers this week. He has already proved himself capable of making plays, and he can be a streaming option for those in need of WR3 or flex players.

Next week, the Chargers will face the Kansas City Chiefs, whose starting cornerbacks are third-year pro L'Jarius Sneed and rookie Trent McDuffie. Los Angeles receivers could be set for some big fantasy numbers in Week 2.

Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen says there is a "small" possibility he will be able to play in Thursday's game against the Kansas City Chiefs after suffering a hamstring injury during Sunday's 24-19 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders, per ProFootballTalk's Myles Simmons.

Allen suffered the injury in the second quarter of Sunday's season opener and was later ruled out for the remainder of the game.

He caught four passes for 66 yards before exiting.

Allen has been fairly durable over his nine-year NFL career, appearing in at least 12 games in seven of those seasons. He hasn't missed a significant amount of time since tearing his ACL during Week 1 of the 2016 campaign.

The 30-year-old had three consecutive seasons of more than 1,000 receiving yards from 2017 to 2019. However, he took a step back in terms of yardage in 2020 with 992 yards, albeit while tying a single-season career high with eight touchdowns.

Allen also had a tremendous 2021 season, catching 106 passes for 1,138 yards and six touchdowns in 16 games. It was the fifth season of his career with 1,000-plus receiving yards and first since 2019.

L.A. selected Allen in the third round of the 2013 draft out of The University of California. He has made five Pro Bowls since then.

When Allen misses time, the franchise can turn to Josh Palmer, Mike Williams and Jalen Guyton.

Justin Herbert has been one of the NFL's top young stars in his first two seasons, and collectors have taken notice.

According to Goldin, an autographed Herbert Panini National Treasures Platinum NFL Shield autographed rookie card from 2020 sold for $1.8 million over the weekend.

🚨BREAKING🚨 The highest priced Justin Herbert card ever sold in the history of #TheHobby! #OnlyatGoldin

Final Sale Price: $1,800,000 💸 pic.twitter.com/I9ngbEnoM6

— Goldin (@GoldinCo) September 11, 2022

Herbert, 24, followed up an excellent rookie season by throwing for 5,014 yards, 38 touchdowns and 15 interceptions while completing 65.9 percent of his passes in 2021. While he couldn't quite get the 9-8 Los Angeles Chargers into the playoffs, he did help the team improve by two wins from the prior season.

And his memorabilia sales reflected his growing star. Earlier in the week, his 2020 Panini Prizm Black Finite rookie card sold for $1.1 million, per ESPN's Dan Hajducky. Both that card and his National Treasures were 1-of-1, adding to their value.

Only Herbert, Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady have exceeded the $1 million mark for an individual NFL trading card sale.

Even though we are only one game into the 2022 regular season, next offseason is shaping up to be very intriguing, with three of the league's best quarterbacks eligible to sign new deals.

In the case of Lamar Jackson, he's been eligible to sign an extension with the Baltimore Ravens for the past two years. The sides were unable to agree to terms on a contract during that time.

Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta said in a statement Friday that, "despite best efforts on both sides," they couldn't reach agreement on a long-term deal with Jackson before the 2019 NFL MVP's self-imposed deadline.

While Ravens fans ponder what might happen with Jackson after this season, players from the 2020 draft class will be eligible to sign extensions for the first time next offseason.

The headliners from that group are quarterbacks Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals and Justin Herbert of the Los Angeles Chargers.

Looking ahead to March 2023, here are our best guesses for what the next contracts for Jackson, Burrow and Herbert will look like.

Let's start with Jackson, since his situation has the greatest sense of urgency because this is his final season under contract. The 2016 Heisman Trophy winner won't hit free agency.

Baltimore will almost certainly use the franchise tag to at least continue negotiating with him and not risk losing him on the open market.

Assuming Jackson gets the franchise tag, it could guarantee him $45.4 million in 2023 based on current estimates. Spotrac also noted the Ravens could tag him in 2024, as well, which would put him at a slightly lower cost over the next three seasons than what Russell Wilson will make during that time on his new deal with the Denver Broncos:

An exclusive franchise tag for Lamar Jackson in 2023 currently calculates to $45.4M (thanks in large part to Deshaun Watson's $55M cap hit).

A tag in 2024 would then be $54.4M.

2022: $23M
2023: $45.4M
2024: $54.4M
= $122.8M

Russell Wilson just locked in $124M over that span.

— Spotrac (@spotrac) September 6, 2022

While it's unclear exactly what it would take for Jackson to give the Ravens a long-term commitment, there has been speculation he could be seeking a fully guaranteed contract in the same range as what Deshaun Watson got from the Cleveland Browns ($230 million over five years).

Fox Sports' Jay Glazer reported on Aug. 21 that the Ravens were offering Jackson a deal worth more in total value than what Kyler Murray got from the Arizona Cardinals ($230.5 million over five years), but the team didn't want to give him a fully guaranteed deal.

Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh is optimistic that things will eventually be worked out with Jackson.

John Harbaugh on Lamar Jackson: "I'm confident that'll happen when it's time. Lamar is going to be playing quarterback here for a long time. He and I talked about it yesterday, 'Hey man, let's go be our best and go focus on football.’ And that's what he's been doing all along."

— Jamison Hensley (@jamisonhensley) September 9, 2022

In the interest of bringing some drama to this discussion, let's say, hypothetically, the Ravens decide Jackson is being unreasonable with his demands and want to take advantage of his value on the market.

The Ravens could use the non-exclusive franchise tag on him that would allow Jackson to accept an offer sheet from another team, but the signing club would have to sacrifice two first-round draft picks if Baltimore decides not to match it.

If any player is going to get a team to sacrifice two first-round picks through the non-exclusive tag process, it's almost certainly going to be a quarterback. Jackson has been one of the league's best at the position when he's been healthy since entering the NFL in 2018.

A more likely result if the Ravens move on from Jackson would be similar to what happened with Davante Adams this offseason. The Green Bay Packers used the non-exclusive tag on the star wideout.

After Adams informed the Packers he wouldn't play on the tag and the two sides couldn't come to terms on a long-term deal, the 29-year-old was traded to the Las Vegas Raiders. He signed a five-year, $140 million deal with the Raiders.

If Jackson were to get traded, the acquiring club would presumably be willing to give him whatever he wanted for the certainty of having an elite quarterback under contract for several years.

Watson and Kirk Cousins are so far the only quarterbacks who have signed fully guaranteed contracts. In Cousins' case, he's signed three different deals with the Minnesota Vikings since 2018 for a combined total of $185 million over six years.

It can reasonably be argued that Jackson has been better than Watson and Cousins throughout their NFL careers; it's not out of the question he could parlay that success into a fully guaranteed $250 million contract from some team.

The salary cap figures to keep increasing every year because of how much television money the NFL will be making, so the cap hits on a fully guaranteed deal for a player of Jackson's talent shouldn't make it difficult to build an excellent roster around him.

Extensions for Burrow and Herbert seem much more simple to figure out. They will still have two years remaining on their rookie contracts after this season, assuming the fifth-year options get picked up next offseason.

Jackson is an outlier in the quarterback-extension discussion because most players who seemed like locks to get a new deal from their current team have done so as soon as they were eligible.

Patrick Mahomes signed his 10-year, $450 million deal with the Kansas City Chiefs in June 2020. Josh Allen, who was in the same 2018 draft class as Jackson, got a six-year, $258 million extension from the Buffalo Bills in Aug. 2021.

Based on how the market usually works, whichever one of Burrow or Herbert signs first will set the floor for the other one. Watson's deal with the Browns briefly made him the second-highest-paid quarterback by average annual salary at $46 million, behind Aaron Rodgers ($50.27 million).

Murray's extension with the Cardinals signed in July moved him ahead of Watson in average annual salary ($46.1 million). He was surpassed last week by Russell Wilson's new deal with the Denver Broncos ($48.5 million).

It stands to reason both Burrow and Herbert could hit $50 million per season. Anything less than five years and $250 million total, with at least $170 million guaranteed, for both young stars would be a bargain for the Bengals and Chargers.

Any concerns about Burrow coming off a torn ACL, MCL and additional damage to his PCL and meniscus that cut his rookie campaign short were completely washed away in 2021. The LSU alum led the league in completion percentage (70.4) and threw for 4,611 yards with 34 touchdowns in 16 starts to lead the Bengals to an AFC North title.

Herbert almost single-handedly got the Chargers in the playoffs with his Week 18 showing against the Las Vegas Raiders last season and has been the most prolific quarterback through his first two seasons in NFL history.

Justin Herbert's ranks among QBs in their first 2 seasons in NFL history

Rank
Pass TD 69 1st
Pass Yds 9,350 1st
Completions 839 1st pic.twitter.com/sdeM77jeYY

— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) January 10, 2022

Burrow probably has more leverage than Herbert because the Bengals played in the Super Bowl seven months ago, but expectations are incredibly high for the Chargers in 2022 after their offseason moves.

Los Angeles Chargers safety Derwin James Jr. apparently isn't happy with his rating in Madden NFL 23, and he has enlisted his family to plead his case.

James posted a video Friday in which he calls on his mother and grandmother to reach out to the game's rating adjusters, and he included the contact number:

Had to call on the fam to go after @EAMaddenNFL for disrespecting me!!

You can let the  Ratings Adjustors know they did me wrong too, hit up 689-278-3030 #EAathletes pic.twitter.com/nZRDGkBzM1

— Derwin James Jr (@DerwinJames) August 19, 2022

James has an overall rating of 93, which is second among strong safeties behind New Orleans Saints star Tyrann Mathieu. While James is unhappy with his rating, he's surely comforted by the reported four-year, $76.4 million contract extension he received earlier this week. The deal has an average annual value of $19.1 million and makes him the highest-paid safety in NFL history.

Madden NFL 23 was released Friday.

Practice. We're talking about practice.

Derwin James signed a massive four-year, $76.4 million contract extension on Wednesday that made him the highest-paid safety in the NFL. But according to his agent, David Mulugheta, James was more excited about returning to practice than he was about the payday:

Man this never gets old. I couldn’t be happier to watch @derwinjames joy when finding out ———> he could go back to practice. Yes, you read that right. First thing he said after I told him he was now the HIGHEST PAID SAFETY in NFL history was, “now I can start practicing right?” pic.twitter.com/UiVTpOTjYH

— David Mulugheta (@DavidMulugheta) August 17, 2022

The 26-year-old James had reported to training camp while he negotiated an extension with the Chargers but had been a "hold-in," participating in some individual drills but missing 14 practices.

Clearly, he missed being on the practice field with his teammates. No surprise from the player who Chargers head coach Brandon Staley described as a "our signal-caller and the heartbeat of our defense."

Staley isn't worried about James missing those practices, either, telling reporters, "there is no one that has more pride in his performance and his ability to be in shape, mentally and physically, to do the job at the highest level than him."

Derwin James Jr. became the highest-paid safety in NFL history by agreeing to a four-year, $76.4 million contract extension with the Los Angeles Chargers on Wednesday.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported the financial details of the agreement. Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network noted the deal includes $42 million in guaranteed money, which is also a new record for the position.

Here's a look at some instant reactions to the lucrative extension:

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Chargers Eliminate "Hold-In" Concerns

James was part of an emerging trend this offseason of players opting to "hold in"—showing up for training camp but not taking part in practices while waiting for a new contract.

While missing some camp sessions and a preseason game he may not have played in wasn't a big deal, concerns were beginning to mount about whether the sides would be able to finalize an extension before the regular season.

Now those worries can fade away and the Chargers will have one of their foundational pieces on the field when they battle the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 1 on Sept. 11.

James is coming off a 2021 campaign where he registered 118 total tackles, five passes defended, two interceptions and two sacks across 15 appearances. He received a solid 78.1 overall grade from Pro Football Focus.

L.A. is a popular pick to become this year's breakout team after narrowly missing the playoffs with a 9-8 record last season.

A core that includes James, quarterback Justin Herbert, running back Austin Ekeler, wide receiver Keenan Allen, cornerback J.C. Jackson and edge-rushers Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack gives the roster several championship-level building blocks.

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James' Injury History Represents Risk

James has established himself as one of the NFL's top safeties when healthy, earning a pair of Pro Bowl appearances and two First Team All-Pro selections, but injuries have been an issue.

The 26-year-old Florida State product was limited to five games in 2019 with a foot injury and missed the entire 2020 season with a torn meniscus.

He returned to play 15 of the Bolts' 17 games in 2021, and he showed no sign the injuries from the previous years would hamper his play moving forward.

The bottom line remains James must stay healthy if the Chargers are going to receive maximum value from the record-setting contract, though.

Before camp started in July, he told ESPN's Lindsey Thiry he was ready to roll for 2022.

"This is the best I've felt in the last four years," James said. "And I can't wait to go."

That's great news for the Chargers' defense.

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Bengals' Jessie Bates III, Bills' Jordan Poyer Up Next

Now that James has reset the safety market, the focus shifts to other high-profile players are the position seeking new deals.

Bates has taken the more traditional route of holding out while trying to work out an extension. The Bengals placed the franchise tag on him in March.

Poyer, who's entering the final year of his contract, arrived at Bills camp on time after skipping voluntary offseason practices, but he's since been sidelined by an elbow injury.

"I want to be here," Poyer told reporters in July. "That's how I feel—I want to be here. I'm going to continue to be a leader for this team and continue to do what I can help this team win football games."

Despite their differing approaches to the situation, both Bates and Poyer should benefit from James' new deal. It could also help bridge the gap between the sides by providing the groundwork for what an extension may look like.

How long James' tenure as the highest-paid safety will last is a mystery, but getting a deal done with a couple of weeks for him to get back up to full speed before the season gets underway is a victory for all parties involved.