The fantasy football landscape shifts each week, bringing fresh opportunities and unexpected challenges that separate the prepared from the pretenders. Savvy managers know that last week’s performance tells only part of the story, and diving deeper into the underlying metrics reveals the accurate picture.
This week presents some intriguing decisions. Here’s insight about key Detroit Lions players heading into their matchup with the Minnesota Vikings to help you craft a winning lineup.
Jared Goff, QB
The Jared Goff efficiency tour made all sorts of noise last season (72.4% completion rate with over three touchdowns per interception) and is clicking at an even higher rate this season (74.9% completion rate and 5.0 TD/INT through seven games this season).
This Minnesota matchup can be tricky for the uninitiated, but as a divisional opponent, Goff is anything but that. His completion percentage against the Vikings in 2024 was higher than Jayson Tatum’s career free-throw percentage.
Think about that.
One of the better scorers in the world is less likely to make an unguarded, 15-foot shot than Goff was to complete a pass against an aggressive defense that thrives on chaos and has 11 of the world’s best athletes trying to prevent it from happening.
The lack of rushing upside is always going to limit the projected upside of Goff, but he’s one of the few pocket passers that we can trust, and this matchup is no different.
David Montgomery, RB
I don’t want to speak for you, but it took me far too long to acknowledge David Montgomery as a safe weekly option as a part of this Detroit attack.
He ran for 25 touchdowns in his first two seasons with the Lions, and I missed out on a large chunk of them in fear that this was Jahmyr Gibbs’ backfield.
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I was late to the party, but I haven’t overcorrected by hanging in there for too long.
It’s now the Gibbs show, and while I’m not going to compare this backfield to the one in Atlanta, I’m not sure it’s drastically different. Montgomery has just one game this season with more than 13 carries, is averaging under two targets per game, and entered the Week 8 bye with zero red zone touches in consecutive contests.
He’s not a lineup lock, especially not against a defense like Minnesota that likes to crowd the line of scrimmage.
Since the Week 3 explosion against the injury-ravaged Ravens, Monty is picking up 2.8 yards per carry, and the role doesn’t come preloaded with nearly enough work to make this profile tempting, even with it being attached to one of the better offenses in the game.
Jameson Williams, WR
Detroit has won five of six games since being physically dominated in Lambeau to kick off the season, and in those five contests, Jameson Williams has seven catches on 18 targets.
We thought he was destined to be a centerpiece of this offense; calling him a secondary option isn’t even accurate.
In your living room, you have the primary couch facing the TV and secondary seating for those less invested in what is going on.
And then you have the tray table that you pull out when Uncle Mikey drops in unexpectedly. That’s what Williams is right now. The Lions look like a real threat in the NFC, and their highlight-making receiver isn’t contributing to it.
That’s not entirely true. His 16-yard ADOT requires defensive attention and thus opens up the shorter, more Goff-friendly routes, but if he’s going to continue to be used as a sacrificial piece, how can we justify starting him?
The big plays are going to come, but to hold down a spot in my lineup week in and week out, I need that to be a piece of the puzzle, not the entire thing.
I’m hopeful that he can get on track sometime over the next month and give us a reason to play him as the stakes grow, but for now, I feel no obligation to play him. In 2022, he turned nine targets (across two games) into 30 yards against this hyper-aggressive Vikings bunch.
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It’s gotten to the point where I’m OK with benching the 4-97-2 game that feels like it’ll come at some point if it means not having to absorb the risk of another 2-40-0 type of game.
Sam LaPorta, TE
Sam LaPorta has been the definition of boom/bust, and that’s irritating, but at tight end, those big weeks are more helpful than the down ones are hindering.
- Three top-5 finishes
- Four finishes outside of the top 20
In the final week of last season, these two teams faced off, and LaPorta led all players with seven receptions. The catch with Detroit is that they can kill you in any variety of ways, but with Williams being treated as the king of cardio, I like his target floor enough to start him with confidence across the board this week.