Detroit Lions: Who to target in your fantasy football leagues
By Bob Heyrman
Although it is only June, I can’t help but start thinking about fantasy football. The rebuilding Detroit Lions won’t have a ton of players you should rush out to draft, but there are certainly three I’d like to highlight.
Most of us are in a fantasy football league or two, and there is nothing like drafting players from your favorite team. The one big knock-on fantasy football from non-fantasy participants is that fans don’t really root for their favorite teams anymore as their time is invested channel surfing looking for individual players on their team.
There is no real defense, but there is certainly a common ground. You can play fantasy football and still root for your favorite team. It’s also nice to have an opportunity to draft players from your favorite team.
The Detroit Lions won’t have a bunch of valuable fantasy football contributors in 2021, but there are three or four viable options you should have circled in your pre-draft notes.
Over the past decade, I’d target Matthew Stafford on draft day, maybe not to be my QB1, but he was a perfect bye week quarterback and fantasy football QB2. Of course, some years, he performed well enough to be a QB1, and typically Stafford would be a bargain selection in the middle of most fantasy drafts.
In years past, in addition to Stafford, I’d, of course, always target the likes of Calvin Johnson, and more recently, Kenny Golladay, Marvin Jones.
Let’s take a look at some Detroit Lions players you NEED to consider drafting in your fantasy football league.
Unfortunately, the 2021 Detroit Lions won’t provide you with a starting fantasy football receiver, but keep an eye on rookie Amon-Ra St. Brown if you are in a dynasty league. There is plenty of upside with St. Brown, and he’s expected to see a plethora of targets due to a very underwhelming group of receivers.
At this point, I don’t see St. Brown as anything more than a WR5 or WR6 in fantasy football during his rookie season.
When it comes to quarterback Jared Goff, let’s put it this way. I would avoid mortgaging my fantasy football season on the right arm of Goff.
Goff will have his good weeks, and I think he has a chance to be a good on-field contributor in Anthony Lynn’s offense but won’t be anything more than a QB3, at times a QB2 in fantasy football terms. Goff will be worthy of a roster spot in 10 or 12 team leagues, but there are about 25 better fantasy options.