Duce Staley Vows to Take D'Andre Swift to Next Level
Running back D'Andre Swift will be expected to take a step forward to aid the Detroit Lions' offense in his second season in Motown.
“I know that being a former running back and all, that narrative kind of has followed me, has been a ground-and-pound guy. 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," Lions offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn said at his introductory press conference. "You have to be balanced in your attack, in your approach. And that’s going to be our intention.”
Detroit's new offensive coordinator is aware of the talent and ability that Swift brings to the table, but also wanted to keep the focus on winning.
“If we throw (and) got to throw it 50 times, we will. If we got to run it 50 times, we will,” he said. “But, we want to just focus on winning.”
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New Lions running backs coach Duce Staley recently appeared on an SB Nation podcast episode, and shared his opinion of Detroit's 2020 second-round pick.
"D'Andre Swift. Saw him in high school. We all seen him at Georgia and what he brought to the table -- just a complete back that was able to do it all," Staley explained. "First-down, second-down, third-down. He's the guy that you want to keep on the field. He brings problems to the defense, and his skill set is good. So, I can't wait to work with him, and hopefully, I can take it to a whole other level. That's my goal."
Like many that have reviewed film of Swift, Staley has been impressed with how effortless the second-year running back makes the game appear.
"It's effortless. I've turned the film on, and I was watching some of the plays the other day. You can see how linebackers just back off of him. You can see linebackers are not so quick to come downhill and put their hands on him because he can make them miss. So, those are some of the things when I go to build a cut up, I can show him how he is viewed or how linebackers see him in this league -- which is very important," Staley commented.
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