The Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears provided plenty of excitement in Week Two, totalling seventy-three total points.
The Detroit Lions lost Ben Johnson in the off-season to the Chicago Bears, and the team put any worries of an offensive decline to rest with a dismantling of the Bears on Sunday with a score of 52-21. The offense looked efficient and explosive. Jared Goff matched a career high, throwing for five touchdowns, including a career-high three scores to Amon-Ra St. Brown. The veteran wide receiver finished the day with nine receptions, two carries, totalling 122 yards and three touchdowns. The Lions scored five passing touchdowns and two on the ground for the first time in franchise history.
The lone bright spot for the Bears was sophomore wide receiver Rome Odunze, who continued to impress, finishing the game with seven receptions, 128 yards and two touchdowns. This young Bears team didn’t do themselves any favours on Sunday, turning the ball over twice in the first half, having eight penalties, and giving up four sacks. They are still a young team that needs time to gel and learn the system that Head Coach Ben Johnson would like to implement. Former first overall pick, Caleb Williams, was 19 for 30 for 207 yards and two touchdowns. Williams was taken out of the game in the fourth quarter as Johnson felt the game was out of reach.
While it was fun to watch Amon-Ra St. Brown and Rome Odunze go toe to toe, giving fantasy managers massive production, we clearly saw that the Chicago Bears are lower on the food chain than the Detroit Lions.
Author: Dane Madoche(@FF_DaMaddog)
Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (ankle), who...
Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell said that wide ...
Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (ankle) ...
Jaymhr Gibbs states he is being used outside “way more than I was the last two years.”
John Morton is the new OC for the Lions after the departure of Ben Johnson. Not much will change for the offense that scored the most points last season, but one new wrinkle is getting running back Jahmyr Gibbs split out wide more. “ That’s good, that’s going to be fun. I’ve been waiting on that,” stated Gibbs
Gibbs caught 104 passes in his first two seasons in the league and quickly became one of the best fantasy football producers in the game. If he gets more involvement in the passing game and has more mismatches out wide, he could break fantasy football. He will be a cheat code. While the Lions still have pass-catching options in Amon Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams and Sam LaPorta, Morton seems to have one vision, and that is to make Gibbs the focal point of the Lions’ offence.
Scoring as the RB1 last season, Gibbs still has room to grow, and with the news of the RB being more involved in the passing game, it makes you think 1,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards receiving is in the range of outcomes for the explosive Gibbs.
Author: Dane Madoche(@FF_DaMaddog)
With Super Bowl expectations through the roof, Lions quarterback Jared Goff comes up short in a playoff letdown.
The Detroit Lions leave the playoffs disappointed and heartbroken. The upstart Washington Commanders blew through the Lions for a 45-31 upset led by rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels.
Jared Goff was 23/40 for 313 passing yards. That is good to see in the stat sheet except for the fact that Goff had a 1:3 touchdown to interception ratio as well as losing a fumble. With 4 turnovers and the Commanders converting 4th downs and turning field goal drives into touchdowns, it became difficult for the Lions to keep up.
In 2024, the Lions made it a habit of pushing other teams into shootouts. The Commanders not only matched the Lions energy, but they also were able to bring the defensive energy winning the turnover battle. The Lions were 9.5 point favorites and end their season with a 14 point loss.
Jared Goff finished 2024 as the QB-8 and is ranked 20th in our dynasty quarterback rankings just behind Baker Mayfield. Goff will continue to be a safe QB-2 in superflex formats as he is buoyed by formidable talent in Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, Sam LaPorta, David Montgomery, and the uber-talented Jahmyr Gibbs.
Jeremiah Retzlaff, @coachretzlaff1
While Amon-Ra St. Brown wins in the stat sheet, Dyami Brown wins the battle in the playoffs.
Amon-Ra. St. Brown finished 2024 as the WR-3 in fantasy football. He finished his playoff run with an impressive 8 receptions for 137 receiving yards. This was good for 21.7 fantasy points.
Unfortunately, the Lions could not keep up with the Washington Commanders. Jayden Daniels and the Commanders dropped 45 points on the Lions. Normally a team that can push tempo for shootouts, the Lions found themselves turning the ball over at a rapid pace. Jared Goff and Jameson Williams combined for 4 interceptions and Goff had a lost fumble.
Amon-Ra St. Brown is known for calling out wide receivers drafted ahead of him and carrying a chip on his shoulder. This has led to much success. One of those players St. Brown publicly has called out is Dyami Brown. Brown had an excellent game for the Commanders with 6 catches for 98 yards. While Dyami Brown has finished strong with something to build off of, there will be better days for Amon-Ra St. Brown ahead. Expect to draft Amon-Ra St. Brown in round 1 of UnderDog best ball drafts in 2025.
Jeremiah Retzlaff, @coachretzlaff1
Jameson Williams will miss the next 2 weeks for violating the NFL’s Performance-Enhancing Substances (PES) policy.
The news of Jameson’s suspension is a big blow to the breakout Wide Receiver and the surging Lions. Williams, in just 6 games this season, has nearly doubled his career stats. With 361 receiving yards, 3 touchdowns and a staggering 21.2 Yards per Catch (No. 2 in the NFL), Jameson had answered the question of “Who will be Detroit’s number two wide receiver?”.
In his absence, the Lions will look to lean into their Top four rushing offense and super-star wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown to compensate for the lack of a deep threat. We should expect to see St. Brown receive the lion’s share of the vacated targets and take his already dominating 29.3% target share north of 30%.
There is an interesting opportunity, however, for a struggling Tight End to re-emerge. Sam LaPorta has been a fantasy football bust so far, coming in as the TE21 through 7 weeks after being drafted as the TE1 most of the off-season. Williams is leaving behind a 17.3% target share while LaPorta is at a lowly 9.8% (No. 30). Offensive Coordinator, Ben Johnson will be looking to the young Tight End to get him going again, following his breakout rookie season.
In deeper leagues, Kalif Raymond comes around as an interesting prospect. He looks to slot in to the Jameson Williams role as the field stretcher and offers big-play potential off of the Play-Action pass. In the past two weeks Raymond has earned 10 targets, more than both LaPorta and Jameson combined. He’s no more than a dart throw flex in the deepest of leagues but the way this offense works, there is boom potential waiting to happen.
While this news is a hit to the expected efficiency of the Detroit offense near term, we should still see fantasy boosts to Jahmyr Gibbs, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Sam LaPorta as the primary pass catching options. Not against the Titans in Week 8, but Kalif Raymond will be a sneaky GPP play in DFS Week 9 against the Green Bay Packers in what will be a high-scoring affair.
Justin Owens | @JOwens_FF
With the Lions greatly needing production behind Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams is emerging in Lions training camp to answer the call.
Jameson Williams has moved up 17.5 spots from prior to the NFL Draft to today. Jameson Williams has crept into the 7th round of drafts on UnderDog.
When considering the burn rate on Jameson Williams, drafters are having to forget that Williams suffered from injury his rookie season and then had a suspension for gambling last season. When it comes to properly onboarding to an NFL team over his short career, this is his first true offseason where Jameson Williams is able to develop where his body and maturity can cooperatively work in tandem.
The appeal for a Jameson Williams breakout is the fact that the Lions want and expect him to take on the role he had last year while carving out the missing production that Josh Reynolds provided last season. When the Lions let Josh Reynolds go in free agency, that was a subtle signal of how the Lions view Williams. Additionally, no true competition has been brought to the team throughout the entirety of the offseason.
In following what the Lions are telling us through their moves and lack thereof all signals point to Jameson Williams filling a much needed void behind stud wideout Amon-Ra St. Brown. Add in that Jameson Williams is cooking in camp, drafters ought to be confident when clicking on Jameson Williams in round 7 of their best ball drafts.
