Fantasy Football Player Notes

There were certainly flashes of what could be a great three-down back with Swift last year, but the Lions seem to have alternate plans. They snagged Jamaal Williams in free agency and signed him to a two-year deal. Then, they drafted Jermar Jefferson. Then, they brought in Todd Gurley on a free agent visit. While they didn't sign him, it's not promising for Swift's outlook, as they clearly want this to be somewhat of a timeshare. It's not to say timeshare backs can't get into the top-12 conversation - they can, but it requires a lot of scoring opportunities, something we're not expecting from the Lions offense. Swift is an extremely talented football player, but situation and opportunity knock him into clear-cut RB2 territory. That's especially true with him being "iffy" for Week 1 because he was so delayed in getting his conditioning up to speed due to his groin injury.

I'm not sure I'm seeing the allure that some do to Williams as a handcuff in Detroit. Williams isn't a bad running back by any means, but it's more about the offense and their want to use a timeshare at running back. It's the same reason D'Andre Swift is falling into middling RB2 range of drafts - it's not because of his talent. Even if Swift were to miss time, the Lions would likely bring in another running back to share the workload. They already brought Todd Gurley in for a visit, so they clearly haven't taken their minds off adding another running back. Not just that, but it's also likely to be a low-scoring offense, which just doesn't give you a lot of upside/potential.