Getty Kenny Golladay celebrates a touchdown in 2019.
The Detroit Lions have a wideout in Kenny Golladay on top of his game entering into the 2020 season, and Golladay could figure to be one of the best players fantasy football has to offer as a result.
ESPN analyst Field Yates asked if Golladay was one of the top fantasy wideouts in the draft, and Matthew Berry seemed to agree. That was due not only to Golladay’s production, but how the Lions’ roster might play out at wide receiver as well.
Berry said:
“I think he is. I think he’s borderline. The concern on Golladay is he had a couple of really big plays that sort of helped him inflate his stats. That being said, he’s an insanely talented player, he’s the No. 1 wide receiver. When you talk about target share, who else the Lions have to throw to. Marvin Jones, you’ve got T.J. Hockenson, you’ve got Danny Amendola. It’s not a lot. Kenny Golladay is going to be the guy. When they get close, Matthew Stafford’s looking for him.”
Golladay put up a great season last year, and a healthy quarterback might only mean bigger and better things for this coming season. That, plus what Berry mentions, are just some of the things to keep in mind for Golladay this coming year.
Kenny Golladay Projected for Massive Season
After a few solid seasons since being drafted into the league, Golladay appeared to grow by leaps and bounds in 2019. All of that only sets the stage for what could be to come this year. According to Pro Football Focus, Golladay is going to be one of the most productive wideouts in the game this coming season, racking up 1,405 receiving yards. That would represent a top 3 total in the league.
Most projected receiving yards
1. Michael Thomas – 1,525
2. Julio Jones – 1,457
3. Kenny Golladay – 1,405
4. Chris Godwin – 1,331
Golladay is a player the Lions need to build around for the future, and his ability to make huge plays in the passing game is a major reason why. He’s developed well since the Lions drafted him and Golladay is a home grown talent in the truest sense.
A season like this might just propel the Lions forward in the biggest and best possible ways offensively, and might also be beneficial for fantasy players everywhere.
Kenny Golladay’s 2019 Stats
From nearly the start of the season until the finish, Golladay had an excellent year catching the ball. Last year, he put up 1,190 yards and 11 touchdowns. He had some huge games last season, and four times Golladay has gone well over 100 yards in a game catching the ball for the Lions. His ball skills are a big reason why.
In total, Golladay has enjoyed arguably the best start to a career of any wideout in his 2017 draft class not named JuJu Smith-Schuster. With 2,730 yards and 19 touchdowns thus far in his career coming into the 2020 season on the field, Golladay looks like an obvious top dog in Detroit for the foreseeable future with Matthew Stafford tossing him the rock. That’s good news for the Lions, who have long pondered how to find production at the wideout position minus Calvin Johnson. Not an issue anymore with Golladay taking over.
Recently, Pro Football Focus put together a list of the top wideout groups in the NFL 1-32. Detroit’s group, which is led by Kenny Golladay and Marvin Jones, ended up placing No. 6 on the list, safely within the top 10 in the league.
Writer Ben Linsey likes what he sees from the group, as he wrote in the piece:
“The duo of Kenny Golladay and Marvin Jones Jr. may be underrated around the league, but both guys can win in a number of ways, and they excel in contested-catch situations. Golladay ranks fifth in contested catches since 2017 (49) while Jones ranks eighth (42), and both have top-10 contested-catch rates among qualifiers. Danny Amendola remains a solid option in the slot at 34 years old after earning a 71.5 overall grade in 2019, and there’s reason to believe T.J. Hockenson will take a step forward as a receiver in his second season given how effective he was at Iowa. The addition of the best receiving running back in the class — D’Andre Swift — only bolsters the group.”
The Lions have players not only at wideout but other spots ready and willing to jump into the mix and help. That’s the mark of a solid team that has some excellent depth, and is a major reason the Lions might have one of the best groups in the entire league.
For this reason, Golladay is not a player to miss in terms of fantasy football.
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