Don’t Forget About Kerryon Johnson (2019 Fantasy Football)

Kerryon Johnson is eligible to return from the I.R. Week 16 and has been practicing in full for the past two weeks. According to Lions beat reporter Kyle Meinke Johnson is slated to be active this week and will be available for you to start in your title games. Why are the Lions playing him in what amounts to a lost season? Per Matt Patricia:

“I think there’s value anytime you can play an NFL football game,” he said. “I think there’s value in that. Especially young guys that need that experience, and just to be able to put yourself in a situation where maybe the last game you played is a shorter space between the next game you’re going to play next season. I think that’s always good. I think the carryover – it’s a new year every year, but you want to make sure you’re able to carry some things over.”

I’m not sure I agree with Patricia but what I think truly doesn’t matter. All that matters is that Johnson is coming back and he can help you win a title in Week 16. If your league plays their championship in Week 17, then you get the benefit of being able to play him in two games.

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Sure sounds like Kerryon Johnson is on track to return from injured reserve next week. Asked directly about Matthew Stafford, Patricia says that door is still open too.

— kyle meinke (@kmeinke) December 13, 2019

If you have stashed Johnson since he went down earlier this season and were still able to make it this far, congratulations. Even if you didn’t hold on to him, or never owned him in the first place, you can still add him to your roster.

And just in case you’ve forgotten what Johnson is capable of on the football field, this should be a good way to jar your memory.

WOOP!! Kerryon Johnson making everyone miss ? pic.twitter.com/Z9pUubKyzc

— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) September 15, 2019

Johnson averaged 13.22 fantasy points in the five complete games he’s played in 2019 so far. Unlike the running backs that have filled in for him during his absence, he has a three-down skill set that allows him to remain on the field in obvious passing situations. He’s averaged 2.3 targets per game in 2019 and 3.3 per game in his two-year career. In his five complete games this season, he also averaged over 17 rushing attempts and exceeded 20 carries on two occasions.

Since Johnson has been out, the Lions have gone through a number of “starting” running backs due to injury or ineffectiveness. This past week Bo Scarbrough was out after missing practice on Thursday and Friday. There’s no guarantee he’ll even be ready to play this coming week. Wes Hills (who?) got the start against Tampa Bay. And while he fell across the goal line twice, he was only able to muster 21 rushings yards on 10 carries. Wes Hills doesn’t matter if Kerryon Johnson is active. Though Scarbrough put up decent rushing totals in Week 12 (98 rushing yards) and Week 13 (83 rushing yards), he adds nothing at all to the passing attack. In Scarbrough’s four starts this year, he’s been targeted a grand total of four times and has only one reception. J.D. McKissic is still involved in the passing game but isn’t actually good in real or fantasy football. None of the running backs that were active while Johnson out, including the ones still active, are even remotely near the talent level of Johnson.

Despite starting an undrafted free agent David Blough at quarterback the past three weeks, it hasn’t caused the Lions to pull back the reigns in the passing attack one bit. They’ve actually ramped up their passing attack. In the past three weeks, they’ve averaged 40.3 pass attempts per game, tied for the seventh-most in the league, after attempting. They’re doing this despite both T.J. Hockenson and Marvin Jones being placed on the I.R. and being finished for the season. Even if Kenny Golladay and Danny Amendola maintain their usual target pace and combine for 15-17 targets that still leaves plenty of pass attempts for Johnson. In theory, it’s possible that J.D. McKisic could still see a couple of targets a game. Still, I’m confident that the Detroit Lions coaching staff realizes that Kerryon Johnson is a far superior football player, and he’ll get those targets instead. This week’s opponent, Denver, is middle of the pack in fantasy points allowed to running backs, but based on expected volume and targets, Johnson should be an RB2 this week.

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