Fantasy Analysis: Detroit Lions

Welcome back football audience! Yesterday Brandon discussed the New York Jets. As you can see, we're not very high on them. Check out today's post to see if we view the Detroit Lions in a more favorable light! Also, please feel free to to leave comments in the appropriate section!

Matthew Stafford

Despite breaking the record for pass attempts (727) for the second straight year, Stafford finished outside of the top 10 at his position, scoring only 275.58 fantasy points in standard leagues. Part of that was due to bad luck, but also a 20:13 TD:INT ratio will not help, either. Don’t expect much improvement, either; the Lions have the 4th hardest strength of schedule this season. With the league’s best receiver in Calvin Johnson, Stafford will always be relevant, but he may well fall out of the top- 12 this year.

Reggie Bush & Mikel LeShoure

The Lions rushing attack once again underwhelmed last season, as the team passed a record 727 times, in which the teams running backs could not develop a rhythm. Expect much of the same this year. However, that does not mean one, or perhaps two, Lions running backs, may be fantasy relevant this year. Coming over from the Miami Dolphins, Bush left Miami a proven man; a legitimate 1000 yard rusher. Last year, Bush finished 14^th in fantasy scoring for running backs, and yet may have been underutilized by the Miami brass. We know Bush is a legitimate receiving threat from his days in New Orleans, where he averaged 4.9 catches per game over 5 seasons. In Miami last season, Bush only had 35 catches on 51 targets. Coach Jim Schwartz will be quick to remedy that problem; the Lions running backs had 144 targets last season; Bush could have low- end RB1 value this season. LeShoure is the goal line back. He scored 9 TDs last season, and he could have had more, as he missed the first two weeks of the season due to suspension. If he can replicate his success from last season, he’ll have value in standard leagues.

Calvin Johnson, Nate Burleson, & Ryan Broyles

Calvin Johnson set a record for single- season receiving yards last season, breaking Jerry Rice’s record with 1964 receiving yards. He’s firmly entrenched as fantasy’s No.1 wideout and perhaps the best receiver of all time. Burleson is the No.2 receiver on the team. He only played 6 games last year due to a broken leg, but was on pace for 72 receptions, and had 73 the year before. In PPR leagues, he could be an asset. However, standard leaguers can forget him. Broyles is a guy man fantasy experts have been tagging as a “deep sleeper,” and a guy to take over Burleson’s No.2 role. While Broyles did show promise in limited playing time last season, he is coming off his second ACL tear in two years, and is too much of a health risk to be anything more than a speculation play at this point.

Brandon Pettigrew & Tony Scheffler

The Lions have two tight ends that they use interchangeably. This tends to hurt both of their fantasy prospects. Brandon Pettigrew caught 59 balls on 102 targets with 3 TDs. Tony Scheffler caught 42 receptions on 85 targets with 1 touchdown. Pettigrew was fantasy’s 22^nd ranked TE last season; Scheffler was its 29^th. As long as both players continue to split time, neither will be anything more than a low- end option for standard leagues.

David Akers

The Lions former kicker, Jason Hanson, finished 6^th in fantasy scoring at his position last season, mostly due to his accuracy on long kicks. The Lions new kicker, David Akers, has neither accuracy (69.0% last year), nor a strong leg. As the Lions offense does not look to improve much this year, he can be safely avoided minus in the largest leagues.