Calvin Johnson may miss a couple weeks with an injury and that is big news for the Detroit Lions and fantasy football owners if he is out and that makes Golden Tate, Jeremy Ross, Eric Ebron, Corey Fuller and Ryan Broyles the best WR and TE start options and free agent pickups if Johnson is out and that also affects Matthew Stafford and his stats heading into the next game if there is no Megatron.
Johnson is one of the best receivers in football even when he is not 100 percent, but he has been banged up a bit the past few weeks and now it looks like he will need to be held out. According to SI.com, Johnson could miss up to two weeks with an ankle injury after playing this past week against the Bills. Jim Caldwell said he thought about keeping Johnson on the sidelines for that game and now moving forward he could be out for a couple weeks after aggravating the injury.
Golden Tate is the logical option to get the most amount of targets with Johnson out, but if he is not available, names like Jeremy Ross, Corey Fuller and Ryan Broyles could be options to step in for Johnson. Megatron is one of the best players in all of fantasy and many owners basically draft their teams around picking him. Losing Johnson for any period of time hurts, but with the way the Lions can throw the ball, a player like Tate can help make up that loss.
This season Johnson has 22 catches for 348 yards and two touchdowns and he has shown that even when injured, he can still make an impact. Last week against the Jets he was used as a decoy and it mostly worked and now he could get some time off to get fully healed. Last season Johnson missed two games and ended up with 84 catches for 1492 yards and 12 touchdowns, but that was a far cry from his 122 catch, 1964 yard season in 2012, which was just stupid ridiculous.
Golden Tate is the logical option to start if owners have the chance, as he has 31 catches this season for over 450 yards and one touchdown. Tate came over from the Seahawks and he is already on track to set career highs. Last season Tate had 64 catches for nearly 800 yards and he is basically halfway to that mark already in just five games. Tate has adapted well to the offense for the Lions and he could be a strong option in PPR leagues. Last week Tate had seven catches for 134 yards and a touchdown with Johnson hampered and he could continue to be a WR1.
Ross has the chance to be a sleeper option, as he comes in after catching two passes for 65 yards in the game against the Jets in Week 4. While he has only eighth catches this season, Ross has a TD and also an average of 15 yards per catch and his big play ability could be a weapon for the Lions. Fuller is another low level option and he comes in with four catches on the season for 69 yards. Broyles has only played in two games this season and he has one catch for 21 yards, making him not much of an option for the Lions.
