There doesn’t seem to be any debate about who the new lead-back in Detroit will be for Week 8. After Kerryon Johnson suffered what was essentially a season-ending knee injury last Sunday, it was Ty Johnson who stepped in to play 64.5% of the Lions’ offensive snaps. Still, that doesn’t mean there aren’t some questions about the viability of the rookie running back who had been losing snaps to J.D. McKissic over the past few weeks. Especially with former Giants draft pick Paul Perkins activated off of the practice squad in time to have a huge revenge game against his former team. I’m kidding. I think.

Still, there’s no way around acknowledging that Johnson draws a pretty favorable matchup in what should be his first career start. At 115.3 rushing yards per game, New York has surrendered the sixth-highest figure in the league to opposing backfields on a weekly basis. Really, with the Giants routinely trailing on Sundays, all of the volume numbers look pretty tantalizing. New York is one of only six teams to induce more than 30 rushing attempts per contest, while they’ve also conceded an NFC-high 10 rushing touchdowns this season - with six coming in the last three weeks alone.

Fantasy Football Analysis, Detroit Lions RBs Ty Johnson and J.D. McKissic

It almost seems too simple to just slide a new Johnson into the old Johnson’s role, but nothing that we saw last weekend suggests that Ty won’t be in line for serious volume in Week 8. He played two-thirds of the team’s snaps, he got all the red zone work, and McKissic barely saw an uptick in touches from what he was already garnering with Kerryon. If you’re considering fading him on DraftKings due to what should be colossal ownership, I can understand you’re thinking. However, his price-point and expected workload are too enticing for me to pass on.

Start/Sit Recommendation

Start Johnson. Sit McKissic.