Lions' David Montgomery Out for the Season | Fantasy Football Outlook for Jahmyr Gibbs, Jared Goff, Sam LaPorta and More

The Detroit Lions are one of the best teams in the NFL this season despite having to overcome a lot of injuries.

The team’s offense has mostly been healthy, but running back David Montgomery suffered a torn MCL in week 15 and will miss the rest of the season.

I wanted to take a look at the Lions’ offense and determine how things might shake out with Montgomery out of the picture.

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Injury News and Montgomery’s Numbers

The Lions’ offense isn’t all of a sudden void of talent at running back after the injury. Montgomery formed an incredible 1-2 punch with Jahmyr Gibbs.

Each back has played 14 games this season, and both have been fantasy monsters.

Montgomery had 775 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns across 185 attempts. Gibbs has 186 rushing attempts, going for 1,047 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Gibbs has 39 receptions for 395 yards and three scores across 49 targets. Montgomery had 341 receiving yards and no touchdowns on 36 catches and 38 targets.

Not having one part of that duo out there is a blow to the Lions’ offense for sure, but Gibbs is certainly more than capable of stepping up. Coach Dan Campbell also said that the team needs to be careful of not putting too much on Gibbs’ plate. In other words, some other backs are likely going to be involved, along with a bigger emphasis being put on the passing game.

Lions’ Fantasy Outlooks

Let’s start with Gibbs. He was already a must-start fantasy player even with Montgomery around, and now he has the potential to be the top fantasy back for the remainder of the season. I expect just a slight increase to his workload, but that takes him from being a great weekly fantasy option to being an even better one.

Craig Reynolds and Sione Vaki are the only other running backs on the active roster right now. Jermar Jefferson is an option on the team’s practice squad. I could also see the Lions bringing in a veteran back who is currently a free agent.

Why do I think that’s a possibility? After Gibbs’ 186 rushing attempts and Montgomery’s 185, the back with the next-most carries is Reynolds, and he has just 31 on the season. Vaki has six rushing attempts. Reynolds has played just 39 offensive snaps (4.14% of the team’s total) and Vaki has played 20 snaps (2.12%).

Detroit might just utilize those two backs to spell Gibbs here and there, but neither look like great fantasy pickups right now. If I had to guess which of the two is the better fantasy asset down the stretch, I’m giving Reynolds the slight edge right now. They are not starting fantasy options in week 16, even in a very favorable matchup against the Bears.

With Montgomery out, that likely means that Jared Goff and the passing game are a bit more relied upon.

Goff has had a fine season, with 268.5 passing yards per game to go along with 30 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He erupted for 41 fantasy points last week, and while that’s not sustainable, I think he’s an above-average fantasy QB for the stretch run.

The week 16 clash with the Bears is as tough as it gets for a fantasy QB, but I’d be fine starting Goff. He scored 17 fantasy points in the team’s first meeting three weeks ago. I’d expect Goff to appear in start/sit articles here later in the week, so check back for those!

Amon-Ra St. Brown is the team’s top pass catcher. He has 1,056 yards and 10 touchdowns on 95 catches and 116 targets this season.

St. Brown is a must-start fantasy player, and the injury to Montgomery should only help his fantasy outlook. The clash with the Bears is a tougher one, but he scored 12 fantasy points in the team’s last meeting and is the safest Detroit pass-catching fantasy option again this week.

Jameson Williams has had a good season. Across 12 games, Williams has 747 receiving yards and five touchdowns on 42 catches and 68 targets. He also has 56 rushing yards on eight attempts - that’s something that could become more prevalent with Montgomery no longer around.

He’s scored in double figures as a fantasy performer in four of the past five games - the lone game he didn’t was against the Bears. With Montgomery out though, I wouldn’t mind starting Williams in a standard league for week 16. I bet he’ll be in start/sit decision stories later in the week, so check back for those!

Tight end Sam LaPorta hasn’t lived up to expectations this season, but he’s at least trending in the right direction as the fantasy season reaches its most important time.

LaPorta has 556 yards and five scores on 43 grabs and 61 targets this season across 13 games. LaPorta has at least six targets in four straight games, and has gone for 12 receptions and 165 combined yards over the past two contests.

He only caught three passes for six yards in the first matchup with the Bears, but he scored twice to deliver a good fantasy score. It’s a slightly above-average matchup on paper. With how he’s been trending, and now with one less mouth to feed in Detroit, I like the idea of starting LaPorta - not just this week, but from here on out.

Wide receiver Tim Patrick has been a surprise breakout player of late, and the injury to Montgomery makes it even more likely that Patrick remains involved offensively. 

He has 379 yards and three scores on 31 catches and 41 targets this season. Patrick has all three of his touchdowns across the past two games. He’s had over 30 yards in four straight games, but no more than 55 yards in any of those contests.

He’s a decent deep-league option after his recent surge. He had two grabs for 48 yards against the Bears in the team’s first matchup. Even in a tough matchup, Patrick is definitely still worth considering in deeper leagues after the Montgomery injury.

I don’t see any other Detroit players who could become really good fantasy assets in Montgomery’s absence, but it’s still worth watching the team’s box scores and snap counts in case someone does end up stepping up. The backup running back slot is the one thing to really watch.

FantasySP will keep an eye on things and let you know who might be worth adding or starting in the weeks to come, so keep checking back for more!