The Detroit Lions have a ton of depth at running back, but every one of their players has a particular strength, making the numbers game very difficult this year.
One of the team’s most intriguing running prospects is Jason Huntley. While Huntley has been solid in between the tackles in his career, he could stick in the NFL thanks to his catching ability. Huntley was a prolific receiver at the position in college, and comes into the league with a chance to make a big impact out of the backfield.
Thus far in camp, Huntley has made some plays, and he seems to understand the chance he has revolves mostly around his ability to create explosive plays. As he explained to the media, that ability to break games could be special for the team.
Huntley explained:
“I think it’s huge. In this game right now at the running back position, you have to be able to catch the ball. To split you out so that in situations, you got a linebacker trying to run along me, knowing that I played a lot of wide receiver and caught a lot of balls helps us out. Just shows that I am versatile in situations so I can play this and that.”
Huntley isn’t just great at catching the football. He can make plays on special teams as well, perhaps giving him an added edge for the Lions. While the team has 4 solid runners on the roster, they could be compelled to keep 5 simply due to the threat of the big play which Huntley certainly packs.
If Huntley ends up cracking the roster, he might only have his excellent hands to thank.
Jason Huntley Packs Explosive Highlight Reel
Huntley, out of New Mexico State, is a little-known running back that hasn’t been on many scouting radars to this point, but the youngster packs a punch as well as some rubber, electric legs he uses to his advantage in order to create some big plays. As the highlights say, Huntley might be the fastest player in the draft that nobody’s ever heard of.
In college, Huntley put up some excellent stats, piling up 3,316 total yards and 25 touchdowns, He can be as good a receiver as a runner, and is also a potential special teams ace in waiting given 5 career kickoff returns for touchdowns and 1,521 yards as a special teams player. That leads some to call him one of the most exciting college players around.
https://twitter.com/TomFornelli/status/1254128876357324806
If the Lions can figure out how to use Huntley, he could end up being one of the best players to rack up big plays in the draft. Catching the ball might just be the way this happens.
Lions Loaded at Running Back
Detroit has a solid player on their team currently in Kerryon Johnson that they are developing. Johnson, however, has run into a few issues with injuries the last few years, so the team was looking for someone else that can be a solid running mate for Johnson moving forward. On the roster, Bo Scarbrough showed late last season that he could be a potential answer for the team in addition to Ty Johnson, but still, the Lions were looking for someone else to build around. That’s why they felt as if they may want to target the draft, which is where D’Andre Swift came in along with Huntley later. The team has done a nice job to upgrade the backfield with the right amount of youth.
Now that the Lions have managed to add another running back and some pounding offensive linemen, the team is seemingly on the right track toward fixing one of their biggest problems of the last few years, and are deep at the position.
Williams might only make that more of the case in the end.
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Lions Running Back Could Have Surprise Inside Track to Roster