Rizzla takes a look at the Detroit Lions acquisition of Danny Amendola, and discusses the fantasy context.
Matt Patricia dipped back into the former New England Patriot well yet again. This time he locked up versatile, but injury prone receiver Danny Amendola. According to NFLcom Danny Amendola signed a one year, $4 million dollar deal with an extra $1.5 available in incentives.
Amendola is a strong get for a Detroit Lions team that was never able to recover from trading away star receiver Golden Tate at the deadline. Amendola is expected to see the majority of his snaps in the slot, but will undoubtedly see some time on the outside when Kenny Golladay, or Marvin Jones kick inside.
Fantasy Context:
Danny Amendola sees a huge boost in fantasy value. He leaves the wasteland known as the Miami Dolphins, and lands on a team with a prolific quarterback, and a head coach that believes in him. Amendola is still more of a flex option but possesses WR3 upside. Amendola will be a high variance fantasy producer as the third best receiver on his team, but will be the possible top target on more than a few weeks. Of course a draft addition could change everything here, but as of now he has a secure role. Those in dynasty leagues will want to try to sell high immediately, while redraft and best ball owners should target him as a fifth receiver type who should see some WR2 finishes.
Matthew Stafford gets a nice uptick in value with this news. After an utterly forgettable 2018 season, Stafford will look to bounce back with Amendola, and fellow free agent signee Jesse James now in town.
As you can see from the metric plot from FFStatistics, Stafford was shell of himself after the trade of Golden Tate. Stafford has five top-15 finishes during the fantasy football season. None came after Golden Tate was traded. Amendola is not the player that Golden Tate is but should provide a chain moving target underneath when Golladay and Jones are locked up on the outside.
Kenny Golladay and Marvin Jones Jr., see their values stay relatively the same. They will undoubtedly lose target share, but may actually see an increase in volume with the Lions now expected to see longer drives. Golladay remains a high upside WR2, while Jones remains a WR3 with WR2 upside.
