Chase Patrick Crayton

Sometimes fantasy owners make the mistake of "chasing points" from the previous week when they are considering a free-agent pickup or a move in their league's claims process. What does that mean? Well, remember when Electric Legedu Naanee blew up in Week 1 because of a busted coverage and a long TD, and many owners chased those points and scrambled to acquire him for Week 2? What's he done since then? Nada.

Patrick Crayton came over to the Chargers in a trade just before the season, and was pretty much a little-utilized player up until last week. All of a sudden, boom, he goes off for 117 yards in Week 6 against the Rams. That had to have been a fluke and you shouldn't chase the points, right?

Wrong.

Now, let me clarify something. I am not saying that Crayton is a guy that is going to maintain solid value for the rest of the season. He won't. However, for Week 7, Crayton's situation is shaping up as a perfect storm. Malcom Floyd is injured and won't play. Naanee, even if he did return from his injury, is a complete non-factor. All-World TE Antonio Gates has a foot injury, and even if he plays, Rivers needs somebody else to throw it to. The Chargers get the Patriots at home this week, quite possibly one of the two or three worst secondaries in all of football. Yes, New England is a good team overall, but teams can throw on them almost at will. And a great quarterback like Philip Rivers can exploit that, and exploit it big time.

So, to recap, what you have here is a situation where Crayton is going to be the #1 WR target of a great quarterback that is perfectly equipped to exploit a mismatch on defense. Throw in the fact that the game is likely to be high-scoring, and you have the potential for another 100 yard game for Crayton. But Crayton is an average talent, you say. Doesn't matter. Were people saying that Malcom Floyd was a very talented player before the year? Nope. The point is that if Philip Rivers is targeting you a lot, you're going to put up good numbers. And this is a great matchup. If you are in a bye-week crunch and have less-than-appealing bench options at WR, consider grabbing Crayton as a one-week fill-in. He's a top-25 option at WR this week.