Team news: Las Vegas Raiders | Page 40

The Lions have gone no huddle on 38.4 percent of their plays this season, more than anyone else in the league. Stafford is 25 of 32 passing for 165 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions when Detroit goes without a huddle this season. They only got away from it last year because all the injuries forced them to roll with younger players who weren't proficient enough in the scheme to pull it off.

Related players: Golden Tate, Marvin Jones, Kenny Golladay, Ameer Abdullah, Theo Riddick

If this is the case, then Stafford's fantasy arrow will continue to point up. The knock on him this season was that Detroit would continue to be more of a ball control offense like last season. For Week 3, Stafford is projected in Vegas to be in a shootout at home with the Falcons. He's a solid QB1 this week, and if the no-huddle continues, it's hard to see him not finishing as a top-12 QB for the 5th time in six years.

With the pads on, the Lions spent one period working on their goal line offense and defense. Zach Zenner had two touchdown runs in four plays with the first-team offense - note to fantasy football players, Zenner was getting goal-line reps for the Lions.

Related players: Ameer Abdullah

Nate Atkins of MLive tweeted today that "Abdullah can be a game changer" so it's not all bad news for Abdullah owners. We believe that Abdullah can still break out even if he's not getting the goal line work, and he's bound to get a few carries inside the 5-yard line. Joe Holka was very impressed with Abdullah after studying him for his Rushing Expectation series.

NFC North beat writers were asked about the Lions run game and the possibility of a balanced offense:

Rob Demovsky: In short, no, unless the return of Ameer Abdullah from the foot injury that ruined his 2016 season is a game-changer or Matt Asiata suddenly becomes something more than just the complementary piece he was in Minnesota. Otherwise, it looks a lot like the status quo for the Lions' offense, which will once again rely heavily on quarterback Matthew Stafford.

That's not a bad thing given his ability to get on a hot streak as he showed last season. The good news is he has an upgraded offensive line led by former Packers Pro Bowl guard T.J. Lang to protect him.

Related players: Theo Riddick

All three beat writers who write for opponents of the Lions in the NFC North seemed to agree the Lions will need to rely on Stafford again this season, and the run game's current status won't give the team balance on offense. No one thinks Abdullah is a sure thing, but if he can stay healthy he'll obviously give the run game a little boost.

The Detroit Lions didn’t select a running back this weekend in the annual NFL draft, and after it was over, general manager Bob Quinn said third-year pro Ameer Abdullah will be the team’s starting running back this fall.

Abdullah missed all but one-and-a-half games in 2016 with a foot injury that required surgery. He won the starting job last season and gained 101 yards on 18 carries before hurting his foot against Tennessee.

“He is,” Quinn said, when asked directly if Abdullah was his starter.

Abdullah was fully cleared to return this past winter and believes he still has the capability to be a premier running back in the league, something he said at the end of the season. Quinn called Abdullah’s injury “a fluke thing,” and said he thinks Theo Riddick will be ready to go as well.

“I feel pretty good about the position,” Quinn said. “There were a couple running backs we looked at in the middle part of the draft but just no one we felt was going to come in and really unseat any of the guys that we have on our roster.

“So we feel good about that spot.”

Both Abdullah and Riddick are going in the 7th round of early MFL10 drafts, and they both represent good values at that point in the draft. Riddick's per game average of 16.2 fantasy points (PPR) was the 8th-highest at his position. Riddick may not see as many carries with Abdullah back, but he should continue to play a big role in the passing game. In the one game that Abdullah played, Riddick turned 12 touches into 108 yards and two touchdowns, so he'll be involved even with Abdullah back in the lead role.