I think injuries and toughness were absolutely a thing, but only giving him 99 carries through 14 games in a season where he average 5.5 ypc is inexcusable to me.Sriracha wrote: ↑Tue Jul 04, 2023 2:55 amI believe it had more to do with Swift not playing through injuries that many other NFL RBs do.dynastyninja wrote: ↑Mon Jul 03, 2023 8:50 amI go back and forth between what I think about the Lions right now, but their view on Swift always confounded me.
Duce Staley seemingly got off on Jamaal Williams fighting defenders for a 4-yard run and probably preferred that to Swift avoiding contact on a 20-yard run. Sure, Jamaal was playing tougher, but Swift was more productive, which should matter more.
Swift has yet to play more than 13 games in an NFL season.“Injuries happen, but one of the things Swift and I had a conversation about is you’ve got to be able to play through some of these injuries as a running back,” Staley said, via the Detroit Free Press. “We all know there’s a difference between being injured and hurt. As soon as you step in this building as a running back, Day One training camp, you’re not going to feel the same. There will be some things you have to fight through.”
There was a clip in Hard Knocks where they're watching film and Staley gets on Swift for running out of bounds instead of fighting through his defender. What always got me was it was after a good run (15+ yards I think). It was that clip + his previous season's usage that got me wanting to trade Swift.
Staley surely still wishes he were out there playing RB and likely romanticizes some elements of how running back is played (toughness & fight). My opinion is he placed too much emphasis on it and not enough on what mattered most (on-field production).
Injuries and toughness were definitely a problem. I'm just of the opinion that they over-valued the intangibles.
I have no special insight into the situation, though, so not that I have any idea what I'm talking about. Just my armchair assessment. I also have no idea how much Staley decided which RB was playing on any given play (could've been the OC), so this whole thing could be null and void.