Things are slow this time of year but we do have some news and notes as the Lions have completed their OTAs and a June minicamp.

QB: At this point, QB Matthew Stafford isn’t going to create much buzz in the fantasy world. You pretty much know what you’re going to get, a borderline QB1 or high quality QB2, with a high floor and as durable as they come. It is interesting to see some rankings that have Stafford ranked behind Jimmy Garoppolo for example. I mean, reasonable minds can certainly differ, but Stafford is more proven and has better receivers. If the hype train for Jimmy G gets out of control, I would be happy to sit back and take Stafford a few rounds later. The deep ball returned to the Lions offense last year and should continue to be a big weapon in 2018. Stafford’s protection should be better this year too. First round pick OL Frank Ragnow is apparently going to slide in at left guard, so there won’t be any worried about Stafford needing to build chemistry with a new center as Graham Glasgow will be staying at center.

RB: Most observers will tell you it’s hard to judge running backs in minicamps when there is no tackling, but first impressions of rookie RB Kerryon Johnson were positive. It remains to be seen how the workload is split between Johnson and RB LeGarrette Blount. For now you have to like Johnson’s upside compared to his current ADP if you are building your draft board. There have been a few whispers about RB Theo Riddick and his salary, but he should be safe in his role as the pass catching back. The mystery man is RB Ameer Abdullah. He could stick around as an insurance policy, he could eventually be cut, or he could be shopped around the league if/when a teams are hit by injuries at the running back position in preseason. There is some depth here, and the Lions started to clear up the logjam a little bit by releasing RB Tion Green last month. He had a nice preseason and made a bit of an impression late last year, but it was going to be a numbers game. Former linebacker Nick Bellore is now officially listed as a fullback on the Lions web site roster, and the job appears to be his with 7^th round rookie FB Nick Bawden injuring his ACL in minicamp.

WR/TE: Much like Stafford, I think we have a good idea what WR Marvin Jones and WR Golden Tate will do, and they are ranked accordingly in the WR2 range by most people. WR Kenny Golladay could be an excellent candidate for a breakout season based on what he showed last year. He’ll get enough targets as the third receiver, especially with Eric Ebron gone and some of those targets going to Golladay. The Lions were mentioned as one of the teams the Patriots contacted regarding a possible Gronk trade, but I doubt things got serious. The tight end position in Detroit will be a fantasy wasteland as there won’t be as many targets as last year and they figure to be split between TE Luke WIllson and TE Michael Roberts. The undrafted rookie getting the most hype going into training camp is WR Teo Redding of Bowling Green. Keep an eye on him to see if he can push to make the roster.

K/DST: If you are looking for a draftable kicker, PK Matt Prater qualifies. It doesn’t look like the Lions defense is getting much love in the early fantasy rankings, and some regression is in order after they scored an unusually high number of touchdowns last year. Even now with minicamps completed, I am not sure what this defensive scheme is going to look like. It sounds like there will be multiple looks and I am looking forward to seeing this in preseason.

I will be back next month with a training camp preview.

End.