Just prior to the start of Sunday’s game against the Washington Football Team, a report surfaced that the Detroit Lions were going to start rookie RB D’Andre Swift for the first time.
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Throughout the season, the Lions have used Swift, Adrian Peterson, and Kerryon Johnson as part of a ‘committee’ approach, but on Sunday, that plan went out the window as you will see from the snap count chart below.
As you can see, Swift played on a whopping 73% of the offensive snaps for the Lions against Washington, compared to just 15% for Johnson and 13% for Peterson.
If you watched the game, or read the box score, you are well aware of the fact that Swift made the best of his opportunity, carrying the ball 16 times for 81 yards, while also catching 5 passes for 68 yards and a touchdown. (By the way, considering the Lions had just 59 snaps on offense, that is pretty darn impressive)
Look for the Lions to continue to feed Swift moving forward, as they should have been doing much sooner than now.