Dion Lewis will be one of the more desirable free agent running backs, and a story last week suggested the Lions could have an interest. They don't appear to have a viable starter -- Ameer Abdullah hasn't worked out -- and their new head coach, Matt Patricia, is familiar with Lewis from their time together in New England.
But the question might be whether Lewis should be interested in Detroit. The Lions not only haven't been effective running the ball in recent years, they haven't really committed to it, either.
Jim Bob Cooter has been the Lions offensive coordinator the last two seasons, since taking over midway through 2015. He'll run the offense in 2018, as well. Now maybe the team hasn't had the right personnel at running back or on the line. But no team has paid as little attention to running the ball the last two seasons as Detroit.
Detroit ranked 32nd in rushing last year, and 30th in 2016. They're not good at it. But to climb out of the bottom 3 in rushing you need to put some effort into it, and in those same two seasons, Detroit has ranked 31st in rushing attempts; both years.
NFL TEAM RUSHING, 2016-2017 | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Team | 2016 att | 2016 rk | 2016 yds | 2016 rk | 2017 att | 2017 rk | 2017 yds | 2017 rk |
Arizona | 399 | 21 | 1,732 | 18 | 409 | 21 | 1,386 | 30 |
Atlanta | 421 | 12 | 1,928 | 5 | 430 | 16 | 1,847 | 13 |
Baltimore | 367 | 30 | 1,463 | 28 | 460 | 7 | 1,856 | 11 |
Buffalo | 492 | 2 | 2,630 | 1 | 487 | 4 | 2,017 | 6 |
Carolina | 453 | 7 | 1,814 | 10 | 490 | 3 | 2,102 | 4 |
Chicago | 380 | 25 | 1,735 | 17 | 422 | 18 | 1,788 | 16 |
Cincinnati | 446 | 9 | 1,769 | 13 | 377 | 29 | 1,366 | 31 |
Cleveland | 350 | 31 | 1,712 | 19 | 384 | 28 | 1,714 | 18 |
Dallas | 499 | 1 | 2,396 | 2 | 480 | 5 | 2,170 | 2 |
Denver | 410 | 15 | 1,484 | 27 | 457 | 8 | 1,852 | 12 |
Detroit | 350 | 31 | 1,310 | 30 | 363 | 31 | 1,221 | 32 |
Green Bay | 374 | 29 | 1,701 | 20 | 386 | 27 | 1,724 | 17 |
Houston | 456 | 6 | 1,859 | 8 | 448 | 12 | 1,842 | 14 |
Indianapolis | 409 | 17 | 1,628 | 23 | 451 | 10 | 1,661 | 22 |
Jacksonville | 392 | 24 | 1,631 | 22 | 527 | 1 | 2,262 | 1 |
Kansas City | 412 | 14 | 1,748 | 15 | 405 | 23 | 1,903 | 9 |
LA Chargers | 398 | 22 | 1,510 | 26 | 419 | 19 | 1,595 | 24 |
LA Rams | 375 | 28 | 1,252 | 31 | 454 | 9 | 1,953 | 8 |
Miami | 405 | 18 | 1,824 | 9 | 360 | 32 | 1,388 | 29 |
Minnesota | 380 | 26 | 1,205 | 32 | 501 | 2 | 1,957 | 7 |
New England | 482 | 3 | 1,872 | 7 | 448 | 11 | 1,889 | 10 |
New Orleans | 404 | 19 | 1,742 | 16 | 444 | 13 | 2,070 | 5 |
NY Giants | 398 | 23 | 1,412 | 29 | 394 | 25 | 1,549 | 26 |
NY Jets | 418 | 13 | 1,802 | 12 | 427 | 17 | 1,702 | 19 |
Oakland | 434 | 11 | 1,922 | 6 | 370 | 30 | 1,554 | 25 |
Philadelphia | 438 | 10 | 1,813 | 11 | 473 | 6 | 2,115 | 3 |
Pittsburgh | 409 | 16 | 1,760 | 14 | 437 | 15 | 1,667 | 20 |
San Francisco | 458 | 5 | 2,019 | 4 | 408 | 22 | 1,662 | 21 |
Seattle | 403 | 20 | 1,591 | 25 | 409 | 20 | 1,629 | 23 |
Tampa Bay | 453 | 8 | 1,616 | 24 | 389 | 26 | 1,450 | 27 |
Tennessee | 476 | 4 | 2,187 | 3 | 443 | 14 | 1,833 | 15 |
Washington | 379 | 27 | 1,696 | 21 | 401 | 24 | 1,448 | 28 |
The team will probably put some draft picks into its line, and maybe it will sign a big-time back like Lewis or Carlos Hyde. But without a commitment to running the ball from the offense, hard to see any back putting up great rushing numbers.
--Andy Richardson