Detroit Lions Fantasy Football News | Shark Bites

The Titans signed K Michael Badgley. Kickers Caleb Shudak and Trey Wolff were released in a corresponding move. Badgley, who's made 81.7% of his career FG attempts, isn’t a late-round target.

The Commanders are releasing K Michael Badgley. That means Joey Slye is retaining the job. He spent all of last season in that role for Washington after arriving late in 2021. Slye went 25-of-30 on FGs and 24-of-28 on extra points. Adjust your kicker rankings.

Lions HC Dan Campbell expects WR Amon-Ra St. Brown (ankle) back sometime next week. He suffered a minor ankle injury in Wednesday's practice. It doesn't sound like St. Brown is in any danger of missing the start of the season, so we're not adjusting his spot in the 2023 fantasy football rankings. We'll let you know when St. Brown gets back on the field.

Lions HC Dan Campbell said there's "a good chance" WR Jameson Williams (hamstring) will miss the final two preseason games. Detroit was obviously looking to get Williams reps this summer after a lost rookie season. He played 51 snaps in the preseason opener. Now it sounds like we won't see Williams again until after he serves his six-game suspension to open the season. It'll be at least a week or two beyond that before Williams will be a bankable fantasy play. He's only worth drafting in best-ball leagues or redraft leagues with deep benches.

Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown could be seen "trying to work out his injury" at Wednesday morning practice, according to Pride of Detroit. St. Brown had his right ankle taped, so there's likely a mild sprain. That he was still on the field at all indicates it's nothing we should worry about for our fantasy football drafts. St. Brown remains high in our 2023 fantasy football rankings.

Lions WR Jameson Williams exited practice on Wednesday with an apparent right hamstring injury. Williams walked to the locker room with team trainers, and we’ll pass along an update when we learn more.

The Athletic's Zack Rosenblatt says Jets RB Zonovan Knight has "had a really good camp -- he's quite clearly been their best RB." That's, of course, with Breece Hall not yet practicing. But it's noteworthy that Knight earns such praise over Michael Carter and rookie Israel Abanikanda. We're not betting on another Jets RB being starter-worthy in fantasy whenever Hall is active. But Hall's still-progressing recovery from the 2022 ACL tear enhances the available opportunity for the rest of the backfield. Knight has been going basically undrafted by best ball ADP this offseason and sits well down our RB rankings. We'll see whether a big adjustment needs to happen.

The Lions are signing QB Teddy Bridgewater, according to multiple reports. Bridgewater figures to back up Jared Goff. The timing of his addition could signal that Detroit wanted to see if rookie QB Hendon Hooker or journeyman Nate Sudfeld could fill that role. Bridgewater would likely be Goff with a lower floor and ceiling if pressed into duty. He went 49 of 79 passing with the Dolphins last year, averaging a career-high 8.6 yards per pass attempt. But Bridgewater sports just a 3.6% TD rate and 7.3 yards per attempt for his career. He'll turn 31 in November.

Tim Twentyman of the team website lists Lions rookie DB Brian Branch as a player who has "stood out" early in training camp. Branch, a second-round pick, has been working in with the first team. He saw time in CB and safety roles at Alabama before dropping to Round 2 after running slow at the Scouting Combine. Detroit presents opportunity for Branch to earn a regular-season role in either position group. We'll keep watching for more specifics on what role he might fill. We've gone ahead and added him to the IDP rankings, though.

Lions TE Sam LaPorta left practice Monday with a "minor" ankle injury, according to Justin Rogers of the Detroit News. LaPorta is reportedly expected to "test" that ankle at Wednesday morning's practice. We'll see how that test goes, but the quick return leaves us not overly worried about the situation. The rookie isn't moving in our TE rankings.

Lions WR Jameson Williams got back on the practice field on Sunday after going down with a leg injury on Monday. It was a "jog through" practice, per HC Dan Campbell, so Williams might not be full speed quite yet. We'll see if the second-year WR can string together a few healthy weeks leading up to the start of the regular season. He's suspended for the first six games for violating the league's gambling policy.

Lions TE Sam LaPorta has already emerged as a "favorite target" of QB Jared Goff, The Athletic's Colton Pouncy writes. "I’m trying my best not to write about LaPorta every day, but it’s hard not to when he looks as dialed in as he has," Pouncy adds. "Not a day goes by when LaPorta doesn’t make a standout play. ... It feels like Goff targets No. 87 on just about every series, and LaPorta continues to be heavily involved with the first-team offense." It sounds like LaPorta has pretty much already locked up the starting job. He has a chance to be the rare rookie TE to make a real fantasy impact. We just moved him up the TE Rankings.

Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown has had a strong start to training camp and cited his still-growing rapport with QB Jared Goff. “I feel like we have a pretty good connection already,” St. Brown said Tuesday. “I know what [Goff] likes. He knows the way I like to run my routes. I’m starting to see what he sees, he’s telling me what he’s seeing, what he’s expecting, so we’re on the same page, for the most part. So if we can just keep that up, I feel like the sky is the limit for us.” St. Brown followed a hot finish to his 2021 rookie campaign with a PPR WR7 finish last year. He's a key player in our 2023 fantasy football draft guide.

Lions WR Jameson Williams suffered a leg injury on Monday and is expected to miss the next couple of days, HC Dan Campbell said. This obviously doesn't sound like a serious issue, but Williams could use all the reps he can get after playing just 78 snaps in his 2022 rookie campaign. He, of course, is suspended for the first six games of this season for violating the league's gambling policy. We'll let you know when Williams gets back on the practice field.

The Commanders are signing K Michael Badgley, according to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero. Badgley will compete with incumbent Joey Slye. Try to avoid drafting both until the situation gets cleared up.

Lions QB Hendon Hooker has been placed on the active/Non-Football Injury list. No surprise as he continues to work back from November's torn ACL. This figures to be a redshirt rookie season for Hooker, who is only worth rostering in keeper and dynasty leagues.

The Lions released K Michael Badgley. That leaves K Riley Patterson atop the depth chart. We'll see if Detroit brings in new competition ahead of Week 1, but Patterson is clearly the odds-on favorite to open the season as the starter. If he hangs onto that role, he'll be squarely on the fantasy radar kicking for an above-average offense with domed home games.

Tim Twentyman of the Lions’ official site writes that TE Sam LaPorta is “expected to play a big role right away.” It’s a reasonable statement given LaPorta’s TE competition: Brock Wright, James Mitchell, and Shane Zylstra. Per Twentyman, Detroit’s coaching staff came away from OTAs/minicamp “pleasantly surprised” with the rookie’s “instincts and feel for the game.” We’ll see if LaPorta can keep up the momentum come training camp. For now, he’s on a trajectory to enter the spot-start TE1 discussion. Factoring in his current ADP — TE19 — LaPorta made our list of best tight ends for fantasy football.

Speaking at a youth football camp, Lions WR Jameson Williams said he’s back to his pre-torn ACL playing weight of 185 pounds. (Williams tore his left ACL in January, 2022.) He credits a new workout regimen and diet. “I’m really eager because it’s been a lot of stepping stones, and I’m just ready to get everything cleared up and just play ball,” Williams said via MLive. Of course, he'll miss the first six games while serving a suspension for gambling. He’s the WR49 in FFPC best ball drafts.

Speaking with NFL Network's Peter Schrager, Lions GM Brad Holmes assessed his new backfield. "When you look at it systematically, I do think we'll be better offensively," Holmes said. "That's no knock on the contributions that those other two guys gave us. [D’Andre] Swift is a dynamic player and Jamaal [Williams] was a great leader for us, and he did so much for us. He had a great season. But I think [David] Montgomery and Jahmyr [Gibbs] are different backs. Montgomery does a little bit more in the passing game. And being able to add Gibbs, he's just so dynamic as a receiver. Look, he's a home run hitter as a running back, that's the easy part. What he does as a receiver -- he runs routes like a receiver." Holmes added that Gibbs is a “special weapon” who reminds him of Christian McCaffrey and Marshall Faulk. See where both Lions sit in our 2023 RB rankings.