The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Truth: Travis Benjamin
If week one was a little crazy, then week two was like the Joker and Harley Quinn stole the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile for a drag race. Not only were there some spectacular performances from unlikely sources, but the injuries this week seemed to be one of the most severe I can remember. If you made a team out of all of the injured players from the first two weeks, it would be quite the formidable lineup. All of those injuries are creating a lot of opportunity for some lower tier players. The question is if we can trust any of these “breakouts”.
Let’s face it, people overreact to small sample sizes. This is especially true when it comes to the world of fantasy football. We have a very strong tendency to let what happens in just 60 minutes completely overpower and sometimes erase what we studied for months or what we’ve seen for years. Every once in a while we need to step back from the ledge, take a deep breath, and remember that extremes happen. Sometimes a perfect storm comes along and a player is great for a brief period before never being heard from again (Bryce Brown, I’m looking at you!). The exact opposite is of course true as well. There have been a ton of players who hit a little slump before leading more fantasy teams to the playoffs than beers consumed at a game in Lambeau Field!
That’s where I come in. For the last few years, I’ve been doing my best to be an objective voice of reason each and every week. I try to pick one or two “breakout” or slumping players each week. I take some time to objectively look at the good news, the bad news, and then give you what I hope is the truth about what you can expect moving forward. I’m not always right (then again, no one is!), but I like to think I’m right way more than I am wrong. I’m not afraid to say something unpopular or against the hype if it is what I believe. I was one of the first to tell you it is time to bail on Trent Richardson when the Browns traded him what seems like decades ago. I always felt Bryce Brown was a splash in the pan who wouldn’t hold dynasty value, and I was one of the voices telling you Allen Hurns was good enough to stay the starter opposite Allen Robinson. All three of those were rather unpopular takes at the time, but they are exactly what all of the evidence point towards. People just needed to step back and take it all in, and I’m just here to help you do that.
In my week one edition, I talked about why you should be a believer in Willie Snead and snatch him up while is price is still in the WR4/WR5 range. He rewarded those who listened with another solid week in week two to the tune of five receptions for 54 yards and a touchdown. This week I’m going to take another look at a receiver who was supposed to be the second target on their own team, but in this case injury has forced them into the lead role with one of the best receiver performances of the weekend. Was it a fluke occurrence or can we count on seeing it a few more times this season?
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Travis Benjamin, WR SD
Week two Stats: Six receptions on six targets for 115 yards and two touchdowns.
Signed this offseason to be the Chargers’ replacement for the aging and often injured Malcom Floyd, Benjamin was expected to be the complement to Keenan Allen in the passing game and to take the top off defenses. Things very quickly changed when Allen went down for the season in week one, forcing Benjamin into the leading role in the receiver corps. It is a role no one, including the Chargers, wanted Benjamin in, and it is a role I didn’t think he could handle. Yet he lit up the Jaguars for an impressive stat line. Can he really be the leading receiver for the Chargers or is this just a bit of a tease?
Good: One of the main reasons the Chargers wanted Benjamin is his prowess as one of the best deep threats in the NFL. He has elite speed to go with being a decent route runner, which allows him to shake defenders for the big plays. He showed off this skill set time and time again during his time in Cleveland with five receptions of 40 yards or more last season. Defenses have no choice but to respect his speed, because he can change the complexion of a game in just one play.
Not only does he have the ability to get open, he definitely has a massive opportunity. Not only have the Chargers lost Allen, but they also lost Danny Woodhead and Antonio Gates has been struggling a bit with injury. That leaves an awful lot of targets for someone to claim. Considering the rest of the depth chart has names like Dontrelle Inman, Griff Whalen, and rookie Tyrell Williams there is a ton of opportunity for someone of Benjamin’s talent to take the lion’s share of the passing game and run with it. We all know how much Philip Rivers loves to throw the ball, and he needs to have someone on the other end to catch it! Benjamin showed some nice variety, catching both a quick crossing route and a deep bomb for scores on Sunday.
Bad: Those who have owned Benjamin for a while or have at least had him on their radar can tell you these “breakout” games are nothing new for him. He has been highly inconsistent so far in his career, having a great game followed by several weeks were he was merely an afterthought. For example, he had nine catches for 118 yards in week six last year, then he had a total of 95 yards over the next three weeks. He followed it up with two good games of 113 and 90 yards before getting 140 yards combined over the last five games of the season. When he’s hot, he’s explosive, but he is going to burn an awful lot of owners if the pattern of the past continues. He only managed 32 yards in week one, even though he had eight targets. It reminds me a bit of what we used to see with Lee Evans of Buffalo fame.
Aside from consistency, the other major concern about Benjamin is that he’s miscast as the top target on an NFL team. He’s an undersized receiver at 5’10” and only 175 pounds. Part of the reason he has vanished from games over the last few years is he can be locked down by stronger cornerbacks. He just doesn’t have the strength to deal with them. Considering who else the Chargers have, or rather don’t have, opposing defenses can easily place their top corner on Benjamin or else put a safety over the top to help take away the big play since there isn’t anyone else they really need to worry about. He could struggle against better defenses.
Ugly Truth: I really want to believe in Benjamin, because it is a huge opportunity for him to step into the spotlight and be a great fantasy asset this season. Rivers is typically one of the higher volume passers in the NFL, and there really isn’t much else on the roster at the receiver position. Unfortunately, I struggle with trusting Benjamin. He’s shown us over the years that he is a feast or famine type of receiver. I think his first two weeks are a perfect example of what we can expect, 32 yards one week and 115 with two scores the next. He’s going to lose as many games for his owners as he will win if you are counting on his production every week. With that said, I think he makes for a very intriguing WR3 or flex play, because on those big weeks he could be huge.
Long term, I don’t think this season will change what Benjamin is and has been over the years. This could easily be the best season of his career, but that isn’t saying too much. His current career highs are all from the 2015 season with 68 receptions for 966 yards and five scores. I think he’ll surpass all of those marks this year, but I think his 2015 season is a good benchmark for what to expect from Benjamin when Allen comes back into the fold next year. If you aren’t a contender, I would wait for another big game out of Benjamin and then sell him off at top 25 receiver prices for someone with a little better long term outlook. On the flip side, if you’re a contender who doesn’t mind the boom or bust types, he definitely has WR2 upside for a price which is likely to be quite a bit less and might be worth a look.
Final Verdict: Benjamin has speed and is the default top target in a high volume passing attack. This definitely puts him on the radar, but he’s miscast as the top target. I expect him to continue to be inconsistent with several weeks under 50 yards when stronger cornerbacks shut him down to go with his weeks of over 100 yards when he catches those bombs. I also think he’s purely a 2016 investment. If you aren’t a realistic contender start looking for the right time to sell him.
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- Final 2021 Pre-Draft Rookie Mock: Round Three - April 28, 2021
- Final 2021 Pre-Draft Rookie Mock: Round Two - April 26, 2021
- Final 2021 Pre-Draft Rookie Mock: Round One - April 25, 2021
