To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the creation of fantasy football, The Athletic is reviewing the best fantasy players and fantasy seasons in NFL history.
A detailed overview of the system used to grade historical fantasy performance can be found in our greatest fantasy players of all-time introduction page, but here’s a quick summary.
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Fantasy player performance is era-adjusted so that players who dominated during lower scoring eras can compete versus players who racked up huge point totals in higher scoring eras.
After these adjustments are made, players are then given credit for having a starter-caliber season (one point), a quality season (one point), an impact campaign (1.5 points) or being an elite starter (two points). These points stack and are measured in both non-PPR and PPR and serve as the basis for determining who are the best fantasy players in NFL history.
Now that we have the preliminaries out of the way, let’s look at the best fantasy players in Los Angeles Chargers team history!
(Note: the numbers listed below are for the player’s performance while on the Chargers.)
All-time fantasy starting lineup
QB: John Hadl
RB: LaDainian Tomlinson
RB: Melvin Gordon
WR: Lance Alworth
WR: Gary Garrison
TE: Kellen Winslow
SuperFLEX: Antonio Gates
Quarterback — John Hadl
| Starter | Quality | Impact | Elite | PPR Str | PPR Qual | PPR Impact | PPR Elite | Career Points |
| 8 | 5 | 4.5 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 4.5 | 4 | 43 |
It was a close call here between Hadl and Dan Fouts, but Hadl wins because of his superb numbers from 1965-73. Hadl placed third in QB career points during that span, behind only Fran Tarkenton and Roman Gabriel. He rated as a starting fantasy quarterback in all those seasons, was a Top 6 fantasy QB in six of them, and a top three fantasy QB on three occasions. Hadl can also boast of having two perfect 11-point seasons (1967 and 1971). Those elite seasons were just enough to push him past Fouts, who ended up with 41 career points.
Running back — LaDainian Tomlinson
| Starter | Quality | Impact | Elite | PPR Str | PPR Qual | PPR Impact | PPR Elite | Career Points |
| 9 | 8 | 7.5 | 2 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 53.5 |
Tomlinson was the face of fantasy football for a time, as he was a Top 3 running back in six straight seasons (2002-07) and a solid RB1 in 2001 and 2008. Tomlinson’s 2006 campaign is in contention for the greatest PPR season of all-time, as the 481.1 points LT scored that year is still a record in that category. These achievements help place Tomlinson fourth in all-time career points among running backs.
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Running back — Melvin Gordon
| Starter | Quality | Impact | Elite | PPR Str | PPR Qual | PPR Impact | PPR Elite | Career Points |
| 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
The drop-off in Chargers fantasy running backs after Tomlinson is gargantuan, which is why Gordon was able to claim the second running back spot on this club despite playing for this franchise for only five seasons. Gordon posted mid-tier RB1 fantasy point totals in three of those years, a pace that helped vault him to a very close win over Rod Bernstine, who had some strong seasons as a hybrid RB/TE for the Chargers in the early 1990s.
Wide receiver — Lance Alworth
| Starter | Quality | Impact | Elite | PPR Str | PPR Qual | PPR Impact | PPR Elite | Career Points |
| 8 | 6 | 7.5 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 55.5 |
The man known as “Bambi” had a phenomenal run from 1963 to 1968, as Alworth placed first in non-PPR and PPR points in three of those years (1965, 1966, and 1968) while also ranking second on two occasions in non-PPR and fourth in PPR in two seasons. Alworth also had three consecutive perfect 11-point seasons from 1964-66. The combination of these dominant campaigns makes Alworth the most valuable fantasy player in Chargers history and rates him second all-time in career points among wide receivers/ends.
Wide receiver — Gary Garrison
| Starter | Quality | Impact | Elite | PPR Str | PPR Qual | PPR Impact | PPR Elite | Career Points |
| 8 | 5 | 1.5 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 1.5 | 2 | 33 |
It was a bit surprising that Keenan Allen or Charlie Joiner did not end up as the Chargers’ second fantasy wide receiver, but Garrison’s 33 career points easily topped the marks tallied by Joiner (23.5), Wes Chandler (21) and Allen (14). Garrison was a Top 6 fantasy WR in non-PPR on five occasions from 1968-74 and posted five Top 6 PPR point totals in that span. Throw in two low-end WR2 campaigns and one WR3 showing, and it pushed Garrison well past that trio.
Tight end — Kellen Winslow
| Starter | Quality | Impact | Elite | PPR Str | PPR Qual | PPR Impact | PPR Elite | Career Points |
| 7 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 46 |
SuperFlex — Antonio Gates
| Starter | Quality | Impact | Elite | PPR Str | PPR Qual | PPR Impact | PPR Elite | Career Points |
| 13 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 5 | 1.5 | 2 | 44.5 |
It was quite a battle between Winslow and Gates for the top tight end spot in Chargers team history. Winslow won that contest on the strength of four straight Top 2 finishes in TE scoring from 1980-83 and a couple of No. 4 rankings in TE fantasy points in 1986 and 1987. Gates gave Winslow quite the run for his money, as Tony Gonzalez is the only tight end to ever post more starter-caliber seasons at this position.
The good news is that even though Gates finished second to Winslow, he still landed in the SuperFlex spot, as his 44.5 career points were 3.5 more than Fouts (41), who once again gets edged out of the starting lineup.
All-time best era-adjusted fantasy seasons
QB: Jack Kemp, 1960 (213.5 points)
RB: LaDainian Tomlinson, 2006 (425 non-PPR, 481.1 PPR)
WR: Lance Alworth, 1965 (241 non-PPR, 310 PPR)
TE: Kellen Winslow, 1982 (107 non-PPR, 161.1 PPR in nine-game strike year)
FLEX: Wes Chandler, 1982 (160 non-PPR, 209.4 PPR in nine-game strike year)
(Top photo: Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
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