In 2017, Detroit Lions wide receivers Golden Tate and Marvin Jones ranked 39th and 38th in PPR scoring, respectively. But that doesn’t tell the entire story. The duo was separated by a nanoscopic 0.6 points that season, an improbable accomplishment if you think about.
Teammates finishing relatively close in fantasy football scoring isn’t all that rare. Hell, Allen Robinson and David Montgomery were separated by less than two points in 2020. But for two wide receivers on the same team to be separated by less than a point and be among the top-40 scorers is ridiculous.
What’s more interesting is just how they got there. Tate and Jones had very different seasons for a decidedly average Lions team. Detroit finished 9-7, but that’s a little misleading. They were out of the playoff hunt after week 16 and their final game was against an Aaron Rodgers-less Green Packers squad.
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But we’re not here to talk about an unmemorable season from the Lions. Let’s take a look at Golden Tate, Marvin Jones and their very odd 2017 season.
Marvin Jones
16 GP / 61 Rec / 1,101 Yards / 9 TDs
225.1 PPR Points / 38th Ranked Player
Marvin Jones averaged 18 yards per reception which led the NFL that year. Matthew Stafford found him for chunk plays throughout the season. Jones’ nine touchdowns were by far and away the best for the Lions in 2017 as no other player had more than five.
That being said, the lack of receptions depressed his fantasy output quite a bit in PPR. Jones had the same number of catches as Ben Watson and Adam Humphries which wasn’t exactly elite company.
Golden Tate
16 GP / 92 Rec / 1,003 Yards / 5 TDs / 22 Rushing Yards
224.5 PPR Points / 39th Ranked Player
Only 0.6 fantasy points behind Jones was Golden Tate who was a PPR all-star that season. He had the seventh most catches in the NFL while being targeted by Stafford 120 times. However, his paltry 10.9 yards per reception was slightly ahead of Michael Crabtree and not as good as Delanie Walker.
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Golden Tate, Marvin Jones and a very odd 2017 season
Golden Tate and Marvin Jones had a very odd 2017 season which may not be duplicated. Both had good, but flawed campaigns that allowed them to finish within 0.6 points of each other despite putting up wildly different numbers. It will forever be one of the great anomalies in fantasy football history.
