Jared Goff finished as the QB11 in fantasy points per game. Jahmyr Gibbs was the RB3, with Amon-Ra St. Brown ending up the WR4. How did the Lions finish 9-8? Oh yeah, the defense allowed 413 points, with only 10 teams allowing more. Thankfully all the skill players are back, which means plenty of fantasy goodness in the Motor City. Ian Hartitz and Dwain McFarland bring you everything you need to know about the Lions for fantasy football with their 2026 fantasy football cheat sheet, highlighting their fantasy football rankings, projections and more.

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Detroit Lions Team Overview for 2026

2025 Record / Rank in PPG: 9-8 / 28.3 (5)

2026 Proj TDs per game: 2.9 (rank: 2)

Head Coach: Dan Campbell

Offensive Playcaller: OC Drew Petzing

Projected Plays Per Game: 62.5 (rank: 3)

Projected Dropback Rate: 58.5% (rank: 23)

Matthew Freedman’s Projected Win Total: 10.8

Offensive Line Grade: C

Key Departure: David Montgomery

Key Addition: Isiah Pacheco

Detroit Lions Fantasy Football Rankings and Depth Chart 

QB: Jared Goff (QB18)

RB: Jahmyr Gibbs (RB1) | Isiah Pacheco (RB51)

WR: Amon-Ra St. Brown (WR4) | Jameson Williams (WR26) | Isaac TeSlaa (WR85)

TE: Sam LaPorta (TE7)

Fantasy Football Breakdown for the 2026 Detroit Lions

Jared Goff has cleared 4,500 passing yards in each of the past three seasons—the rest of the NFL has done so just six times combined during that span! While Goff's status as a zero in the run game doesn't help, he's still posted top-15 fantasy numbers in each of the past four seasons—besting his low-end QB2 ADP price tag every year along the way.

Jahmyr Gibbs has worked as fantasy's RB8, RB2 and RB3 in PPR points per game since 2023. The electric 24-year-old talent has averaged an absurd 24.4 PPR points per game in 14 career contests with David Montgomery (now on the Texans) playing under a third of the offense's snaps. Gibbs is Fantasy Life's consensus 1.01 pick over Bijan Robinson thanks to the tiebreaker of the Lions' scoring upside being better than the Falcons. Isiah Pacheco profiles as a quality late-round handcuff.

Amon-Ra St. Brown has worked as fantasy's WR4 in PPR points per game during each of the past three seasons. He's ranked as just that ahead of 2026. The bigger question is whether boom-or-bust speedster Jameson Williams is more like the man we saw in Weeks 1-10 (10.9 PPR points per game, WR41) or Weeks 11-18 (15.2, WR13). TE Sam LaPorta notably hit the injured reserve for the latter stretch. Isaac TeSlaa has a penchant for making some SWEET catches, but limited targets make him a non-viable weekly fantasy option.

Injuries and emergences from Gibbs and Williams limited LaPorta's ability to replicate his awesome 2023 rookie campaign (14.1 PPR points per game, TE3) in 2024 (10.9, TE9) and 2025 (11.9, TE7). Still good, albeit not exactly the sort of difference-making numbers to go out of your way for in the earlier rounds of any given fantasy draft.

Utilization Notes for the Detroit Lions

Jahmyr Gibbs erupted for 22.6 points per game with a 94 Utilization Score over the final eight games in 2025 after Dan Campbell took over as the playcaller. Over that span, he played 75% of the snaps, handling 66% of attempts and notching a 21% target share on a 65% route participation rate. Gibbs is an elite dual-threat RB on a high-scoring offense. With David Montgomery traded to the Texans, Isiah Pacheco will spell Gibbs in Drew Petzing's offense, but the Lions have turned the page to Gibbs RB1 SZN. He should be the No. 1 pick in fantasy drafts.

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