Detroit Lions fan’s 2020 fantasy football success guide

Running backs for fantasy use

Kerryon Johnson

Johnson is the starter in Detroit until someone knocks him off of that hill. He has continued to get the first-team reps according to Lions beat writers like Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press.

In fantasy circles, he is not nearly as respected, though; ESPN fantasy has him as the 33rd running back, while his rookie backfield mate, D’Andre Swift is at 25th in the rankings.

Johnson is coming back from his own injuries, a meniscus tear in his right knee, according to Lions beat writer Tim Twentyman. Now wearing a brace, Johnson is intent on taking the bigger share of carries for himself in the offense which has traditionally not been very good in the run game.

Kerryon is listed as the 99th overall prospect and ESPN states that he is taken at pick 109 on average. If it were us, we would probably avoid either Detroit Lions running back as a starter.

You should be picking him in round nine or ten but beware that he has yet to play a complete season, which seems to be why the Lions went after Swift.

Kerryon Johnson doesn’t offer a great set of hands but had 32 receptions in his rookie year where he played in ten games. He can catch the ball out of the backfield but is mainly used as a safety valve in the passing game which limits his potential even if he were to retain the starter title.

Kerryon earned 403 yards on the ground in 2019, with 3 scores, but only averaged 3.6 yards-per-carry. Some of that can be attributed to the offensive line but Johnson bears some blame, too, since several other players were more productive on their carries.

He should be viewed as an RB4 or an RB5; if paired with Swift, possibly one could be a low-end RB2 or ideally an RB3 on your roster assuming that one was getting half or better of the total carries for the offense.