"What If?" Could Tom Brady to the Chargers be a Huge Fantasy Football Shakeup?
In the " What-If" series, MARVEL gives an in-depth look at an alternate reality of superheroes in different situations or scenarios that are far from the norm of what is present. What if we play out the "Fantasy Football" version of this series? The first step in our journey lands us in the city of angels, where the Los Angeles Chargers reside. This "What-If" scenario involves a California native who goes by many nicknames, but one that fits his persona "California Cool," aka Tom Brady.
The writing seems to be on the wall in New England, and the winds of change are imminent. Brady seems frustrated with the lack of production and consistency from the most recent moves that the front office has tried to make which failed to inject new life into the offense. From the Antonio Brown debacle to bringing in veterans Mohamed Sanu, and Demaryius Thomas, who seemed to drop more passes than catching them, and the unfortunate departure of his favorite new target Josh Gordon seemed to mount frustration. Add in a short exit from this year's playoffs and that may have been the proverbial last straw.
Pieces to the Puzzle
The ingredients to this potential powder keg of explosive fantasy goodness have many facets to it, one of the main components other than Brady, as mentioned above, is a "Gronk like" beast of a tight end going by the name of Hunter Henry. Now, this is assuming Henry resigns with the Chargers during the off-season, but remember, this is a what-if article. Towering at 6'5 and 250lbs, Henry mirrors the prototypical star middle receivers that Brady has and loved to target with great success in the past like Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. In 2019, Hunter finished inside the top 10 for all tight ends in PPR formats, finishing with 55 receptions for 652 yards and 5 T.D.'s in just 12 games.
Giving the illustrious history of how Brady loves to target playmaking receivers underneath and in the middle of the field, Henry could be a huge asset. Per Pro Football Focus, Brady has completed 69.4 percent of his passes over the middle, verses 54.9 percent outside the numbers, making Henry a very desirable target.
Henry, when healthy, has the potential to be a red zone monster, with his size and athleticism, draws immediate mismatches where most linebackers are not able to cover a talented player like Henry. Phillip Rivers started to show considerable regression in his latter years as Brady seems to have discovered some form of "fountain of youth" elixir, which gives more credence to this theory how the production of this teams offense can immediately see a boost if Brady were to land in L.A. this year, especially Hunter Henry's fantasy value.
Rags to Riches
The Chargers have an assortment of talent in the passing game that would make this marriage a match made in heaven. Other than Henry, the two speedy uber-talented receivers Keenan Allen and Mike Williams, give Brady the weapons on the outside he has longed for since he had receivers like Randy Moss and Brandon Cooks.
Allen, who finished inside the top tier of receivers in 2019 with 1,199 yards on 104 receptions and 6 T.D.'s, is the prototypical number one receiver that Brady would pepper with targets and could see his totals skyrocket. Williams has shown flashes in his tenure here in L.A., but never seemed to warrant the target share he deserved but could turn out to be another big-bodied target for Brady deep within the red zone. This move to the Chargers could see Henry and Allen's redraft value explode, but you could still get a potential steal with Williams late in most PPR drafts around the double-digit rounds, and it could pay off big time.
If Melvin Gordon and the franchise kindly part ways during impending free agency, Brady will still have a great pass-catching offensive weapon out of the backfield in Austin Ekeler. Ekeler is a restricted free agent and likely will not be going anywhere. The same scenario as Henry though, let’s assume he is returning. During Gordon's absence from the team last season, Ekeler proved he was more than capable of being the lead back in a pass-heavy offense, with over 1400 total yards with 993 of them receiving. Ekeler gives Brady a similar weapon underneath reminiscent to Dion Lewis, and most recently, James White. From another perspective, if Gordon and the Chargers decided to come to mutual terms, having a one-two punch like that could be another deadly combination that defensive coordinators would have to spend countless time trying to solve.
Making sense of it all
It's always good to speculate and give a perspective through the lens of "What-If," but the reality of it all is it’s a more likely scenario than most people think. Given all the facts that we know
· Brady is a California native, he and his lovely wife Gisele have a home out there in Brentwood. (They currently have their estate in Massachusetts up for sale)
· Chargers have moved on from Phillip Rivers.
· His business partners and trainers live there, and it makes sense from a business standpoint to be in L.A where most find their second career their broadcasting, movies, etc.
And finally, it's LA, no further explanation needed!
However, this potential sneak peek into an alternate fantasy football reality unfolds, know that if the "G.O.A.T." lands in sunny southern California this season, there will be plenty of fantasy gold to be mined in Chargers Nation.
