Lions RB David Montgomery injured his right MCL in Sunday's loss to the Bills and will be out indefinitely. NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reports that it's a tear and that Montgomery might be out through the playoffs. ESPN's Adam Schefter reports it as a sprain but adds that Montgomery will have further testing. Whatever the specific diagnosis and return timeline, it seems a pretty safe bet that Montgomery will miss the rest of the regular season.
Losing Montgomery obviously shines more of the backfield spotlight on Jahmyr Gibbs. Detroit has sent just 18 carries and 1 target to RBs not named Gibbs or Montgomery this season.
Craig Reynolds ranks third at the position with 12 touches through 14 games and logged some work for the Lions each of the past three years.
Rookie Sione Vaki has 6 carries and 1 reception (on 1 target) this season.
Neither should be in play for Week 16 fantasy use, of course. I'll be surprised if either guy gets enough work against the Bears to become a relevant Week 17 option.
Losing Montgomery could also push more passing volume on offense -- and probably should.
Detroit actually already increased its pass rate vs. expectation over the previous four weeks compared with the rest of this season.
If the increased passing volume continues, we could get better-than-expected fantasy scoring from QB Jared Goff and has pass catchers the rest of the way.
Goff's season-ending schedule looked rough not that long ago. But he just delivered a huge passing day against a banged-up Bills secondary. And now come Chicago and San Francisco defenses that have showed leaks.
WR Jameson Williams and TE Sam LaPorta would also benefit from greater pass volume. And WR Tim Patrick could remain a sneaky deep-league option.
WR Amon-Ra St. Brown should just remain in lineups in nearly all cases.
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Jahmyr Gibbs gets the backfield basically to himself after the David Montgomery injury. But he was already starting. Many other RBs will make for tougher calls ...
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