The Detroit Lions are 2-1 this season after an exciting win over the Washington Redskins last week, but after losing wide receiver Nate Burleson until at least November after a car accident, fantasy owners are looking for suitable replacements and one of the top options is wideout Ryan Broyles.
The Lions love to throw the ball and with Burleson, who is their second leading receiver, out for a while, someone will need to step up alongside Calvin Johnson and that player could end up being Ryan Broyles. Burleson was quietly having a nice season for the Lions, making 19 catches on over 20 targets from Matthew Stafford and he has been productive with 239 yards, although he has been kept out of the endzone this season.
The team has a tough home game against the Bears and losing Burleson will be tough. Last week he was very good with six catches on nine targets and over 100 yards in the game and that came after he had 13 catches for over 100 yards in the previous two games. The Lions need a solid second with receiver with Calvin Johnson as their number one, as teams can double him up to try and take Megatron out of the game and now Broyles or even Patrick Edwards will be asked to step up.
Broyles isn't someone who will jump off the page with stats yet, since he played his first game for the team last week against the Redskins. Broyles is coming off of a serious injury so he could be a risk to get hurt again, but he has the talent and the size to be a dominant receiver after doing so in college and he comes in after making 22 catches for 310 yards last season in 10 games with two touchdowns and so far this season he has three catches for 34 yards.
Broyles will obviously get more looks than he did last week since Burleson is out and if Reggie Bush is back with the running game, the offense could open up things more on the turf. The dome will give Broyles come protection from the elements as he is coming back from a knee injury, but the tough defense of the Bears could be hard to breakthrough against.
The Lions, to no one's surprise, are ranked second in the league in passing yards with over 330 per game and with Stafford throwing so much, someone has to catch those balls and now Broyles will get his chances.