Lions weighing options with injured D’Andre Swift, including shutting him down through bye

Detroit News

Allen Park — The Detroit Lions attempted to take a preemptive approach to keep D’Andre Swift healthy this offseason, but after suffering a shoulder injury on Sunday, compounded with a lingering ankle sprain from the season opener, the team now is considering whether to shut the running back down for the next couple of weeks.

“It could potentially,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said about the possibility of the shoulder injury sidelining Swift this week and next. “We’re looking at. That shoulder is a little sore, so we’ll see where he’s at. It could be an issue.”

After a dazzling performance in the season opener, Swift’s playing time, and production, have been curtailed by injury the past two weeks. In Sunday’s loss to the Vikings, he carried the ball seven times and caught three passes, tallying a season-low 46 yards from scrimmage.

Already not 100%, the Lions now must decide whether to allow him to heal up ahead of the team’s Week 6 bye, giving him three full weeks of rest.

“Yeah, we’ve thought about that,” Campbell said. “That’s one of the things that I was thinking about last night and this morning. It’s certainly on my mind, it’s on our mind. If you feel like he’s good enough to go, we know what he’s capable of, but not at the expense of him not being even up to 75% of himself.

“Every player has to be at a certain point to be able to produce,” Campbell continued. “Not to mention the practice, not to be able to practice and get the detail of things. So that’s fair to Swift either, to him or to us. Certainly we’re thinking about that, as well.”

A second-round pick in 2020, Swift has battled durability issues all three years he’s been in Detroit. He missed extensive practice time during his first and second training camps, sat out three games with headaches as a rookie and four more in 2021 with groin and shoulder issues.

When healthy, he’s one of the league’s top dual-threat weapons out of the backfield. Unfortunately, that’s rarely been the case, limiting him to 292 carries since entering the league.

If Swift has to miss time, the Lions will lean more heavily on Jamaal Williams and Craig Reynolds, with kick returner Justin Jackson also figuring to be in the mix for some touches on offense. Williams is coming off one of the best games of his career, rushing for 87 yards and two touchdowns against the Vikings.

jdrogers@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @Justin_Rogers

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