Is Keenan Allen Playing Tonight? Chargers WR Injury Updates vs. Chiefs on Thursday Night Football

Week 15 of the NFL season is here, and congrats to those of you who made the fantasy football playoffs. It will be critical to know the injury outlooks and updates around the league, to ensure you are setting your optimal lineups.

Let's check in on the COVID situation for Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen ahead of the Thursday Night Football game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Is Keenan Allen playing this week? Which Chargers wide receivers will be viable fantasy plays on Thursday? Below we take a quick look at the updated injury status for Allen and attempt to answer these questions.

Is Keenan Allen Playing In Week 15 Against the Chiefs?

Keenan Allen missed last week's game as he was on the league's COVID list, but Allen has officially been activated from the COVID list ahead of the Week 15 Thursday Night Football game against the Chiefs:

Because of this, we should expect that Allen will be on the field to face the Chiefs. In the first meeting of these teams, Allen was targeted 12 times, bringing in eight passes for 50 yards and a touchdown. He was on the field for 83% of the snaps.

In fact, Allen has played 80% or more of the snaps in each game this season. The amount of playing time Allen gets means that you should deploy him in fantasy lineups as you usually would.

How Does This Impact Other Chargers Wide Receivers?

Mike Williams has been a boom/bust play all season and nothing really changes about that with Allen back. Playing Williams means you would get 120 yards and two touchdowns or you could get two catches for 35 yards, or somewhere in between.

What does change is the viability of other Chargers options. The KC defense has improved a lot since the first meeting, when Justin Herbert threw four touchdowns. So expecting tertiary options like Jalen Guyton and Josh Palmer to produce this week seems like a problem.

Guyton had three catches for 87 yards and a score last week, while Palmer had five for 66 and a touchdown. At least one will see a huge reduction in snaps, but neither is a viable fantasy play.

Should I Start Keenan Allen and Mike Williams This Week?

Let's keep this short: yes, you should start both of these receivers. Allen is WR13 in points per game and WR14 overall in half-PPR. He's good to go on Thursday, so you should start him as a high-end WR2. Even with inconsistency from week to week, you should start Mike Williams as a high-end WR2. Keep it simple.

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