Friday open thread: Which Lions-Washington players will boom and bust in fantasy this week?

When teams are bad, so are the fantasy options, and unfortunately it always seems like the Detroit Lions’ fantasy relevance seems to dwindle at this point in the year. Though Matthew Stafford is healthy so far, it looks like some of his buddies are not, and that makes it hard to get too excited about this team. Meanwhile, Washington is just as sad, and its quarterback situation has to be one of the roughest in the league.

Stafford (QB21) is not getting any love from the experts, with his primary weapon Kenny Golladay still injured. D’Andre Swift (RB14) has been living in the high RB2 zone since the bye, but this could be a big week for him in the passing game. That would be because outside of Marvin Jones (WR36), there might not be anyone else of note to catch the ball if T.J. Hockenson (TE2 — for now) winds up missing time.

The Footballs had to turn to Alex Smith (QB28) after losing Kyle Allen to injury and deciding to move away from Dwayne Haskins. This week it will be Terry McLaurin (WR6) who joins the list of top-tier skill players to face the Lions this season, and he will be the only pass catcher of note — sorry Logan Thomas (TE18)

Today’s Question of the Day is:

Which Lions-Washington players will boom and bust in fantasy this week?

My answer:

With no Golladay and potentially no Hockenson, the offense has to come from somewhere. Jones probably sneaks into the WR2 range, but it seems like Swift is a good candidate to benefit here. Yes, Adrian Peterson and Kerryon Johnson still exist (unfortunately), but it is finally time to let the second-rounder take over.

I am hesitant on Antonio Gibson (RB13), despite the dominance of Dalvin Cook last week. Gibson has been pretty solid as a rookie, but he is dealing with his shoulder this week. Former Lion J.D. McKissic (RB25) could steal some of the work, and it could easily end up being a modest day for Gibson.