I get the feeling that Detroit’s Super Bowl hopes are slipping away. They keep losing players, to where I don’t think they can hang with Philadelphia (if they even make it to the NFC Championship). Most recently, they lost two more defensive starters, plus one of their big running backs. David Montgomery is undergoing season-ending knee surgery.
For our own selfish purposes, this should translate into more touches for Jahmyr Gibbs. But with Gibbs being a smaller guy (and the Lions also running it a ton) they’ll want to work in another back. That will make Craig Reynolds a popular target on waiver wires this week.
Expectations, I think, should be modest. (At least until Gibbs either gets injured or chooses to rest up for the playoffs.) Reynolds has been elevated into this role before, and with limited results.
Reynolds (who played collegiately at the same school as Hall of Famer Andre Reed – Kutztown State) first stepped onto the big stage in 2021. With both Jamaal Williams and D’Andre Swift out with injuries, Reynolds ran for 83 yards in a loss at Denver, then 112 yards in a home win over Arizona. Dan Campbell spoke fondly off him when the Lions were featured on Hard Knocks.
But since those initial two games, there have been nine other weeks where the Lions were missing one of their two main tailbacks, elevating Reynolds (pictured) up into the change-of-pace role. (In 2021-22, they were rolling with Williams and D’Andre Swift; the last two years, they’ve used Gibbs and Montgomery.) In those nine games, Reynolds averaged 6.8 carries for 30 yards, and 1.6 catches for 19 yards, with one touchdown.
In general, Reynolds performed fine. He averaged 4.4 yards per attempt, and he caught all but one of the 15 passes thrown his way. But he’s a backup and special teams player, rather than a guy they want to feature. Only if some kind of issue comes up with Gibbs will Reynolds be much of a factor.
| CRAIG REYNOLDS AS A FILL-IN | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Opp | Result | Rushing | Receiving |
| 2021 | at Den. | L 10-38 | 11-83-0 | 2-16-0 |
| 2021 | Ariz. | W 30-12 | 26-112-0 | 1-5-0 |
| 2021 | at Atl. | L 16-20 | 11-29-0 | 3-22-0 |
| 2022 | Sea. | L 45-48 | 2-30-0 | 1-12-0 |
| 2022 | at N.E. | L 0-29 | 6-24-0 | 3-68-0 |
| 2022 | at Dall. | L 6-24 | 4-12-0 | 3-18-0 |
| 2023 | Atl. | W 20-6 | 4-15-0 | 0-0-0 |
| 2023 | Car. | W 42-24 | 7-52-1 | 0-0-0 |
| 2023 | at T.B. | W 20-6 | 10-15-0 | 2-28-0 |
| 2023 | at Bal. | L 6-38 | 3-16-0 | 1-9-0 |
| 2023 | L.V. | W 26-14 | 14-74-0 | 1-12-0 |
—Ian Allan