Kalen Ballage Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

Keenan Allen and Joshua Kelley are both inactive today. Expect Austin Ekeler to be heavily involved in both the passing and the rushing game, with Kalen Ballage getting a boost with Joshua Kelley out.

Kalen Ballage is active Sunday, although his role is diminished by Austin Ekeler being healthy again.

Adam Schefter's early Sunday news dump mainly consisted of confirming that questionable players are expected to play: Allen Robinson, Darnell Mooney, Julio Jones, Todd Gurley, Carlos Hyde, and Kalen Ballage are all expected to play. Colt McCoy is also expected to start for Daniel Jones. These players' statuses will be confirmed when inactives come out, but they all appear fairly safe to play today.

Austin Ekeler will make his return for the Chargers, and he will be needed as Kalen Ballage is inactive. Ekeler should return to near his normal role, which means he will be heavily involved in the passing game, while sharing the rushing load with Joshua Kelley. Troymain Pope should also get a little run as the RB3, so Ekeler is unlikely to dominate carries. Still, his ability in the passing game makes him a strong play with nice upside.

Per Schefter, the Chargers are expected to be without Kalen Ballage on Sunday. Austin Ekeler's return couldn't come at a better time - he's expected to lead the backfield Sunday after missing the majority of the season with calf and ankle injuries. While he does carry at least a mild risk of being eased in, we should expect close to a normal workload for Ekeler as the lead back. Anthony Lynn hasn't shown much trust in Josh Kelly and Troymaine Pope has been an afterthought with Ballage and Kelly eating up most of the backfield work the last few weeks. Especially in GPPs, Ekeler is worth a long look in what should be a high scoring affair with the Bills. As for the Falcons, they are expected to have Hayden Hurst active, but are still awaiting word as to whether they'll have Julio Jones. The team is expected to see how Jones looks in pre-game work before making a final decision on his status. We'll confirm the status' of Ballage, Hurst and Julio Jones when we get more information.

The Chargers activated Austin Ekeler, clearing the path for him to play Sunday, and potentially giving Justin Herbert a dynamic weapon out of the backfield. Ekeler had returned to practice earlier this week, but coach Anthony Lynn previously sounded skeptical about Ekeler's availability for Sunday. While Ekeler is now eligible to play, his status will still need to be confirmed when inactives are released prior to kickoff. If he is playing, he should return to near his normal role, which will cut significantly into Kalen Ballage's work.

Troymaine Pope is officially active Sunday after being listed as questionable. Having Pope active just makes it harder to read this RB situation, as Joshua Kelley and Kalen Ballage both will also get work as well.