KANSAS CITY – Whether it’s measured in days, months or something else entirely, D’Andre Swift’s time with the Detroit Lions is nearing its end.
If that wasn’t obvious by what the Lions did with their first pick of Thursday’s NFL draft, when they took a replica running back in Jahmyr Gibbs at No. 12 overall, it certainly was when general manager Brad Holmes was asked about Swift’s future with the team late Thursday night.
“I mean, D’Andre, he’s still on our roster, he’s still part of our team, he’s still under contract with us,” Holmes said. “He’s a dynamic football player, so it hadn’t really changed the math there, yet. But it is early, but it didn’t really change.”
Yet.
That’s the qualifier kiss of death Holmes and other NFL general managers use when it becomes apparent it’s time for both parties to move on, no different than when Bob Quinn was asked if he planned to bring Eric Ebron back for the 2018 season and he said, “He’s under contract with a tender.”
Birkett: Detroit Lions ignore analytics, confident Gibbs, Campbell worth picks at devalued positions
Swift has not worn out his welcome in Detroit like Ebron did five years ago, but injuries have made it so he has not lived up to the intriguing potential he showed coming out of Georgia in the 2020 NFL draft.
Back then, Swift was billed as an electric dual-threat running back, the kind that would diversify the Lions offense on the ground and through the air. He showed flashes of brilliance, including last year when he opened the season with a 144-yard rushing game in a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
But Swift sprained his ankle in that game and injured his shoulder a couple weeks after, and ran for just 398 more yards the rest of the year. In three seasons in Detroit, he’s yet to top 617 yards rushing in a year.
The injuries aren’t Swift’s fault. Those come with playing in the NFL.
But they are part of why Holmes felt the need to draft Gibbs on Thursday, and why Swift no longer has a clear-cut role.
Gibbs was a dynamic all-purpose back at Alabama last season and at Georgia Tech the two years before that, and the Lions believe he can play a similar role in the NFL. He can flex out wide as a receiver, line up in the slot or play from the backfield.
GAME CHANGING ATHLETICISM: In RB Jahmyr Gibbs, Detroit Lions ‘got the best overall athlete in this draft’
In Detroit, Gibbs will share the backfield workload with free agent addition David Montgomery this fall, and with only so many carries to go around, that leaves Swift as the odd man out.
Maybe the Lions keep Swift for the time being. He’s better than any other insurance back they could find on the street, and they might be able to carve out a role for him on kick returns.
But it makes more sense for the Lions to shop him during this week’s draft and hope for a Jeff Okudah like return (a fifth-round pick, even if they have to wait until 2024). Swift needs a fresh start and a path to playing time, and he doesn’t have that in Detroit.
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.