The Detroit Lions are hoping to have Calvin Johnson back soon and so are fantasy football owners and for Week 8, Golden Tate and Jeremy Ross along with Corey Fuller are the best fantasy WR start options, while at RB Reggie Bush and Joique Bell are the best picks as long as both remain healthy through practice for Matthew Stafford this weekend against the Falcons.
The Lions are desperate to get back Johnson to the starting lineup and it looks like he is on his way back, but it likely won't be in Week 8. According to Pro Football Talk, Johnson has started running again and while the team is preparing for a game in London against the Falcons, it's likely that Johnson will be out until after the bye in Week 9. Johnson has time to heal up to get to 100 percent and for fantasy owners, Golden Tate has gotten the most production with Johnson out and he is a strong start option for Sunday.
Johnson has been dealing with a high ankle sprain and those can be lingering injuries and it likely will take until after the bye week for Johnson to even have a chance at coming back. Johnson has 22 catches in five games this season for 348 yards and two TDs and now he could miss at least one more game and possibly two if he is not healthy. Johnson has only missed two games in the past four seasons and now he is in danger of not making it to 1k yards this year.
Tate has been one of the top free agent signing from last year after the way this has played out and he has been very productive this season. Tate has 48 catches for 649 yards and two TDs and he is one pace to put up the best numbers of his career after playing with the Seahawks for four seasons. Tate had a huge game on Sunday with 10 catches for 154 yards and he now has at least seven catches in each of the past four games and he has scored his Tds in that span.
Johnson has been one of the best fantasy football players over the past few years and his numbers have just been insane. Johnson had 84 catches last season in 14 games and had 12 touchdowns over that span and he also added 1492 receiving yards and that came after his mega season. Johnson had 122 catches for 1964 yards two years ago and while he had just five TDs, he averaged over 120 yards per game that season. The past three have been insane, including in 2011 when he had 16 touchdowns in 16 games to go along with 96 catches for 1681 yards.
Reggie Bush and Joique Bell are strong start options this week against the Falcons, as Atlanta has been terrible against the run this season. Bush is dealing with an ankle injury that kept him out for most of the second half last week, but he said he will play this weekend. Bell comes in after putting up solid numbers against the Saints and he could get the bulk of the touches on Sunday in London if Bush is still a bit banged up.