Written by Al Beaton | 26 June 2010

The NFL released their 2010 Fantasy Player Rankings earlier this week. I'll give you two guesses which Lion ranked the highest...not that you'll need more than one.

If you said "It's Calvin Johnson, you big dummy" you'd be channelling Fred G. Sanford. You'd also be correct.

According to the NFL, here's where our Detroit Lions rate on their top 200 fantasy list:

23. Calvin Johnson
36. Jahvid Best

Then there's a HUGE drop...

117. Matthew Stafford
129. Nate Burleson

Then another big gap...

169. Kevin Smith
183. Tony Scheffler

And that's it. I'm not surprised.

To break it down further, Johnson is the 4th ranked overall WR, Best the 17th best fantasy RB, Stafford the 19th rated QB, Burleson cracks the WR top 50 at number 48, Smith is the 57th ranked overall RB, and Scheffler makes the top 20 TE list right on the nose at 20.

The Lions were working on improving their fantasy rankings during OTA's...

Other Lions ranked at their respective positions:

RB 71. Maurice Morris. Might as well be ranked 1000th with Best and Smith on the roster.
TE 24. Brandon Pettigrew. I wonder how much higher Pettigrew would be if his ACL remained intact?
K 27. Jason Hanson. Has Father Time caught up with a Hall of Fame worthy kicker?
D 30. Lions. At least they aren't last...

Pettigrew and Hanson are likely underrated. Given Pettigrew's season ended just as he was beginning to have an impact, and Hanson went through one of the worst slumps of his long career in '09, I can understand their lower rankings.

As for fantasy sleepers, the NFL has Stafford rated high on the short list (Is a list 32 sleepers long a short list?)

6. Matthew Stafford, Lions
Looking for a sleeper at the quarterback position? Stafford fits the bill. He showed flashes of potential as a rookie, and his 2010 schedule is very favorable. He'll face the Bears (2), Vikings (2), Eagles, Giants, Rams, Dolphins and Buccaneers. Those teams allowed an average of 17.8 fantasy PPG or more to quarterbacks in 2009.

If Stafford has a solid statistical season, it bodes very well for his fantasy owners, and more importantly, the Lions chances of winning more than 2 games.

He's the franchise, folks. As Stafford goes, so will the Lions.

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