Who Should I Start? Keenan Allen or Christian Kirk

Thursday, January 8, 12:08 PM

Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen was the team's leading receiver in the Week 18 regular-season finale against the Denver Broncos and he caught seven passes, his most since a season-high 11 grabs back on Oct. 19. However, Allen had just 36 yards on Sunday with backup quarterback Trey Lance getting the starting nod with the Bolts resting Justin Herbert. The week prior, the 33-year-old Allen had just one catch for 17 yards in the loss to the Houston Texans. Allen has not scored since Week 7 and hasn't gone over 50 receiving yards in a contest since Week 11 against the Jaguars. He is a trustworthy security blanket for Herbert, the problem is that L.A.'s beat-up offensive line doesn't give Herbert much time to find his receivers. All of the Chargers' wideouts are shaky fantasy options going into the postseason against a Patriots defense that has allowed the sixth-fewest half-PPR points per game to WRs in the last five weeks.

Tuesday, January 13, 11:19 AM

Out of nowhere, Houston Texans wide receiver Christian Kirk had a breakout game in the 30-6 blowout win over the hosting Pittsburgh Steelers in the Wild-Card round on Monday night. Kirk, who disappointed with only 28 catches for 239 yards and one touchdown on 52 targets in 13 games during the regular season in his first year with the team, caught eight of his nine targets for a season-high 144 yards and one touchdown to help send the Texans to the Divisional Round this weekend against the New England Patriots. It helped the 29-year-old's cause when top wideout Nico Collins left with a concussion in the second half and never returned. Fantasy managers probably shouldn't expect a repeat performance for Kirk against New England, but he'll definitely see more targets this weekend if Collins is unable to clear the league's concussion protocol.