Kalif Raymond

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