Getty D'Andre Swift hurdles a Washington defender.
The Detroit Lions are giving rookie D’Andre Swift more of a chance to shine this week by starting him, and early on against the Washington Football Team, he proved why this was a smart decision that should have happened long before.
Swift, on the first series for Detroit, ran with explosion and aggressiveness. His best move came as he drove through the line and into the secondary, working a nice hurdle over a Washington defender and picking up a huge chunk of yardage.
Here’s a look:
Swift is tough and physical as well as very deft and showed it here. His early work paid off driving Detroit down the field as the Lions managed to score a long touchdown and take a 7-0 lead. That lead would quickly swell to 14-3 into the second quarter.
Clearly, Swift is starting to prove why he was a high draft pick and why he should get even more attention within the Detroit offense moving forward.
D’Andre Swift’s Role in Detroit
Such exciting plays like this only illustrate why Swift should be given a bigger chance to run the ball and see the field more within Detroit’s offense. Whenever he’s touched it, he’s found a way to deliver the goods, his early season goal line drop against the Bears not withstanding. Despite that, Swift often times doesn’t get the majority of carries and sees his role fluctuate week to week.
The pressure is on the Lions to deliver for Swift and make sure he can continue to get the right kinds of snaps in order to be a success consistently in the league. Hopefully, this week can be what finally turns the tide for the Lions given how well he has run.
D’Andre Swift Stats
Swift came into the NFLthis season as a hard charging back out of Georgia who was tough in his career playing in the SEC. With 2,885 yards and 20 touchdowns in his college career, there was little doubting how well Swift would do at toting the rock and fitting in well within Detroit’s backfield situation. Georgia has put a lot of great runners into the league lately, and the hope for Swift is that he can join the squad and become the next runner that follows in the footsteps of players like Todd Gurley, Sony Michel and Nick Chubb. All of them have become great, and Swift could be next as he showed flashes of this brilliance time to time since coming into the league as the stats show.
In the NFL, Swift hasn’t made a huge impact thus far and has been more known for his work as a pass catcher. So far entering this week’s game, he had run for 250 yards and 4 score while catching 26 passes for 207 yards and 1 touchdown.
It will be fascinating to see how Swift finishes the 2020 season and if he can keep making a big impact. The Lions need to keep giving him a chance to run with such elite plays.
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