Anybody know why Swift isn’t getting more reps?
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Not as good as Peterson and KJ? Another wasted 2nd round pick?
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Rookie and no pre season? I have no doubt he will contribute this year.
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My estimation is Swift has some issue health-wise and they are using him sparingly.
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Kid doesn’t know his assignments (see missed hot read as pass hits him in the back), and is still processing info slowly. He’s playing poorly due to information overload (see dropped game winner), etc, etc. If we are seeing it in games the staff is seeing it in practice. So they’re not going to put the kid in there to blow reps when they’ve got two assignment sound veteran RBs who are playing at a fairly high level. No one envisioned when drafting Swift that Hall of Famer Adrian Peterson would become available. So there’s a lot less urgency to get him in there than there was prior to AP coming to town.
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Matty P said he wanted to control the clock vs Arizona. AD and Johnson were more suited for that.
I think the main reason is conditioning. Same for KJ too. AP was likely the most NFL ready for the season. As a rookie in a Covid year we’re bringing him along slowly.
We appear to be doing the same with all of our rookies.
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I am with Air on this one. I think the Lions are trying to bring the rookies they can along slowly. There is no reason to throw Swift out there at this time. I would also say that the lack of an offseason and no preseason games is why Swift has had some obvious mistakes so far. I think that we as fans need to give him a few more weeks and then see how he is used after the bye. If the Lions still aren’t using him much by week 8 then I will become worried.
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fantastic assessment.
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Good points…I think he has shown to be a valuable weapon. I imagine he will get more reps as the season progresses…
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And let’s be honest, KJ has been playing pretty well in his limited reps too.
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I think it’s mostly comfort, i.e. risk aversion, on the part of the coaching staff.
It’s human nature to overestimate the risk of losing something and undervalue the opportunity cost of not getting something you potentially could have had. This has been proven in study after study.
In this case, I think coaches are more fearful of young player mistakes and comfortable with limited upside when AP is on the field. Especially with their jobs on the line.
I’m not saying there isn’t some logic here, but I do think it’s being stretched based on actual performances. When you factor in planning for the future, it really tips the scales towards seeing more Swift & Johnson and less AD.
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Yeah, but Swift posted all those work-out videos. 
No preseason, no preseason games.
Learning NFL speed in actual games vs scrimmaging.
Blocking as a RB at the nfl level is different than the SEC.
Same reason why CJ Anderson and LeGarrette Blount got so many reps. The coaches and front office just love veterans, even when they present limited upside.
-Global Pandemic
-Minor injury during limited training camp
-He’s a rookie in a talented backfield.
I’ve liked what I’ve seen from a few limited touches. Swift has shown some speed and explosiveness and he’s going to continue to gain experience.
Would we have liked to see this kid get 20 touches a game and be All-Pro from day 1? Sure, why not? It’s just not reasonable. A rookie, during this crazy 2020 off-season, with some injury setbacks is a recipe for a delayed start to a professional career. I’m pretty pumped to watch this kid play as the season moves forward.
The correct answer is because our management and coaching is a joke.
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The Lions are doing the same thing with all their rookies. I doubt Okudah starts if they had a healthy secondary.
I think the staff feels that due to Covid that the rookies weren’t mentally and physically conditioned for the start of the NFL season.
I expect to see more snaps after the bye.
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Stupidity on the part of the same coaching staff that shows stupidity all over the game plans on both sides of the ball. Yes, he’s blown TWO plays in three games. The one, the blitz got there so fast you’d have thought it was a screen play… but it wasn’t. He also caught the only screen play I’ve seen in three games and ripped off a 19 yard play. But then back on the bench because, you know… we really need those 1/2 yard runs from our 400 year old last second signing so much more…
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Birketts article from this morning makes it sound like he is performing well in practice but the limited reps due to the off-season combined with his injury put him behind the 8 ball from a playback perspective, that is what i gathered from his article anyway.