D’Andre Swift to the Detroit Lions at No. 35 overall was one of the biggest surprises of the 2020 NFL Draft. Few expected the Lions to take a running back so high in the draft with so many other glaring needs, and Swift was never linked to the team in meetings or virtual workouts.
It’s an interesting choice. Selecting Swift instead of addressing the anemic pass rush, the absence of a single wide receiver under contract beyond 2020 and significant holes in the defensive interior depth chart, the Lions rolled with the Georgia running back. It’s a sign that the Lions are zagging where everyone else zigs.
Drafting any running back so early instead of pass rush help, defensive line and wide receiver is a direct slap to the modern football analytical movement. It also defies what the Lions own experience running the ball lately has been; Bo Scarbrough walked in off the street and produced well (4.2 YPC) at the end of last season without the threat of the forward pass once Matthew Stafford was injured.
It’s also a sign that the Bob Quinn/Matt Patricia regime is further breaking away from the “Patriot Way”. New England has been a below-average running team for years, by design. They knew wins and losses came from being able to successfully throw the ball and playing to Tom Brady’s strengths. New England’s deemphasis on the running back position was obvious. The Patriots drafted just one single RB (James White, 4th round, 2014) between 2011 and 2018.
They rectified that with Sony Michel, Swift’s Georgia teammate, in the first round of the 2018 draft. He’s been less-effective than Detroit’s Kerryon Johnson, taken 12 spots later in the draft. Johnson has a higher yards-per-carry average (4.5 to 4.0) and caught more than double the passes (42 to 19) than Michel when he’s been able to stay on the field.
Meanwhile the Lions continue to pile up running back draft picks. Kerryon Johnson in 2018, Ty Johnson last year, now Swift. Scarbrough remains available. Ty Johnson was effective as a rookie (4.3 YPC, 24 receptions on 30 targets) in the old Theo Riddick role of perimeter scatback and receiver out of the backfield.
Swift leaps to the top of the heap. He’s a very talented all-around back. But putting so much emphasis on running the ball and having premium RBs is drifting even further away from what the Patriots have done. Matt Patricia is getting his own stamp, and it looks a whole lot more like Bill Parcells than Belichick. However, Parcells loved his pass rushers too, and that’s where Quinn and Patricia are really diverging from the Patriot Way and, frankly, the way almost every other team in the last decade has approached playing defense.
Ground and pound and the coverage sack. That’s the identity of the Matt Patricia Detroit Lions. It’s an interesting idea. Instead of fighting fire with water, the Lions have chosen the old salt route to try and capture the power of the flame. If it works, Patricia and Quinn will be lauded. If it doesn’t, their Lions house gets burned to the ashes next January.