D’Andre Swift Soars into 2021 Fantasy RB1 Territory as Potential 25-Touch RB in Lions New Offense

New Lions RB coach, Duce Staley, said D'Andre Swift should be a 25-touch running back in their offense, catapulting Swift into 2021 fantasy RB1 status.

New head coach Dan Campbell is building a workhorse-breeding offensive staff and it looks like his offense will be centered around second-year back, D’Andre Swift. Duce Staley, the former Eagles’ running backs coach and Campbell’s new assistant head coach and running backs coach, said he views Swift as a bell-cow and a running back who has the potential to tote the rock 25 times a game.

As a result, D’Andre Swift’s 2021 fantasy outlook should skyrocket under Campbell, Staley, and new offensive coordinator, Anthony Lynn.

“A lot of people think you got to go have 20 carries as running back to be successful, and sometimes you do,” Staley said to the Detroit Free Press. “But touches, when you have a good back, an electrifying back, touches are definitely more important. You can get 18 carries and seven touches as far as receptions and you have 25 touches, which is what you want from your star back. When I look at D’Andre, I do think he’s a three-down back and like I said, he has some special traits I can’t wait to get my hands on, so I’m excited about that.”

The former Georgia Bulldog led Detroit with 10 touchdowns and finished second on the squad with 521 rushing yards. Although he missed three games due to a bizarre head injury, he showed his potential during the final three games, where he racked up 166 yards on 4.49 yards per carry, and three touchdowns. The versatile back also snagged 11 balls for 56 yards.

Since Barry Sanders hung up his cleats in 1998, the Lions have had a dismal running game. Since then, they’ve only had four 1,000-yard individual rushing seasons and the last was from Reggie Bush in 2013.

Campbell not only hired Staley to coach his running backs, but he also added Anthony Lynn as the team’s offensive coordinator. Lynn, who proved he’s a terrible head coach, actually has a strong workhorse breeding résumé.

Lynn was a long-time NFL running back and running backs coach before calling plays for the Bills in 2016. In 2016, the Bills led the league in rushing at 164.4 yards per game and finished 30th in passing.

Anthony Lynn piggybacked Staley’s comments, saying Swift’s a “three-down back.”

“I know that being a former running back and all, that narrative kind of has followed me has been a ground-and-pound guy,” Lynn said. “And yes, I’ve rushed for a lot of yards in the last decade, but I believe in this league, the defenses are too good to be one dimensional. You have to be balanced in your attack, in your approach, and that’s going to be our intention.”

With Kenny Golladay and Marvin Jones both potentially leaving in free agency, new signal-caller, Jared Goff, will have plenty of dump-off opportunities to Swift, which could result in an Austin Ekeleresque workload in 2021.

Campbell said in his first press conference he wants to “run a system that puts our best on your worst.” Basically meaning he’ll be using Swift as a Swiss-Army Knife to create mismatches and that he didn’t want a one-dimensional play-caller (before hiring Lynn).

“I know there’s this preconceived notion about me,” Campbell said. “Of course, I want to run the football, cause there’s a mentality about it, there’s a physicality about it. It makes you better defensively as well when you do it against yourself in practice. But ultimately, man, I want to find the best guy for the job that fits what I want to do and fits what we’re trying to do here and put our guys in the best situation to have success.”

Either way, all of the fantasy stars are aligning for the second-year back. The Wolf currently has Swift as his RB17 on his 2021 Fantasy Football Rankings & Big Board, but expect him to take a major leap on the next update.

Author

Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
LinkedIn

Related Posts