2019 Summer Sleeper: Detroit Lions

Dwight Peebles

In our annual 32-part Summer Sleeper series, DLF scribes identify a lightly-touted player on each NFL roster who may be worthy of your consideration. Our subjects all have varying levels of “sleeperness,” but each merits a bit of in-depth discussion here in the Premium Content section.

To help everybody along, we are going to be categorizing our sleepers under one of three headings:

Super Deep Sleepers – Players who aren’t roster-worthy in 12-team leagues, but are still worth keeping an eye on.
Deep Sleepers – An end of the roster player who is more often than not on the waiver wire in 12-team leagues.
Sleeper – A likely rostered player who makes for a good trade target. Their startup ADP puts them out of the top-175 or so.

Because we aren’t going to give you the likes of mainstream sleepers, most of these players will undoubtedly fizzle. All we are asking is for you to keep an open mind and perhaps be willing to make room for one of these players on your bench. You never know when the next Adam Thielen is going to spring up. Feel free to add your own thoughts about our choice for the designated sleeper, or nominate one of your own in the comments below.

The Detroit Lions finished 2018 at 6-10 and it was a typical season of late – highs including a thrashing of the New England Patriots in week three and a thumping of the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field in Week 17, and plenty of lows. The team lost back to back games four times and the offense was lackluster, finishing 24th in yards per game and 25th in points per game. The defense kept them in every game, but the offense under the tutelage of Jim Bob Cooter was supposed to take a step forward and it faltered, leading to a new offensive coordinator hire – Darrell Bevell.

Matthew Stafford has manned the helm for the Honolulu Blue and Silver for ten seasons and looked like a fraction of himself in 2018 – throwing for his fewest pass attempts since 2010 in which he missed most of the season due to injury. Stafford only managed 21 scores and 3,777 yards with 11 interceptions. In the off-season, news of the quarterback playing with a broken back during the latter part of the season surfaced.

The receiving corps was a hindrance as well. Third-year wideout Kenny Golladay emerged with 70 grabs for 1,063 yards and five touchdowns but Marvin Jones was only able to start nine games and their second-leading receiver from 2017, Golden Tate, was traded to Philadelphia at the trade deadline. Theo Riddick was the top pass receiving back for the fourth straight season in Detroit and rookie Kerryon Johnson also proved to be a valuable option in the passing game.

Detroit drafted versatile tight end TJ Hockenson in the NFL draft but did little else to address a thin wide receiver group. They signed a few veteran wideouts and one receiver signing could be valuable, I will outline why below.

Jermaine Kearse, WR

Category: Deep Sleeper

Signed by Detroit late in the free agent process, Kearse has never been the flashiest receiver – he has always been a reliable target and he produces solid WR3 type numbers. He’s averaged over 42 catches a season the last six seasons. He also averaged nearly 550 yards and three scores over those same seasons. So why am I recommending your grab Kearse for your fantasy squad?

The wide receiver landscape in Detroit is barren beyond the top several options and even the top two are not without question. Golladay is going to be the man and should attract every defense’s top cornerback. Jones is a solid 1A type of receiver and is capable of putting up numbers but has not shown the history to stay completely healthy. Amendola is 33 years old and has not looked good in the past two seasons. And then there is the subject of my Summer Sleeper, Kearse. Beyond him, the depth chart is a barren landscape of non-viable options.

The bigger issue beyond the uninspiring fleet of wide receivers is the play of Stafford and the offense in Detroit becoming more run-heavy with the hiring of Bevell as offensive coordinator. Most recently, he was the coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks for seven seasons in which their passing offense ranked an average of 21st. They did finish fourth in 2015 but that low average was with a dynamic quarterback at the helm in Russell Wilson. Stafford’s day as a gunslinger are behind him but an injury to Kerryon Johnson could easily force the Lions to be the throw-happy offense of old.

All of this sounds daunting but Kearse has a spot to fit in and an opportunity for playing time as well as targets. Even if Jones and Golladay play a lion’s share of snaps, I could see Kearse beating out Amendola for the slot position and getting his reps. Hockenson will draw attention in the middle when he runs routes and Kearse will find space to provide a reliable, sure-handed target for Stafford.

Kearse has always been a favorite end-of-bench stash for me. He’s put up solid numbers in fill-in starts for my fantasy teams for many years. He is not the sexiest sleeper by any means but someone who has a shot to put up some numbers and get you through lean weeks. If there is an injury in the Motor City, Kearse could provide even more as he is able to man the outside spots as well.

A season of 50 catches and 600 yards with a handful of scores is the likeliest outcome – Kearse’s floor if you will. A much more productive season is not far off either. Grab him wherever you need wide receiver depth and start him when you need help.

dwight peebles
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