A Detroit Lions fable: The little running back
By Ash Thompson
This is the story of a Detroit Lions player who needs to do something drastic if he wants to change the ending of his fairy tale.
Let me tell you a story. Everyone likes stories, right? The best thing about this story is that up to a point it is true. It has a moral. There is a lesson to be learned from this story. If the subject manages to figure out that moral before training camp opens on the 2018 season, he may change people’s minds. He may find a way to flip the script and discover a happier ending.
The little running back
There was an undersized running back who came out of college as a highly touted player. He was quick as lightning, which had always made up for his lack of size. He got into his NFL coach’s doghouse for a few costly mistakes as a rookie. The running back got hurt in his second season after proving his worth to the coaching staff. He looked like he was becoming the player everyone hoped he would but one of his feet was broken. He sat out 14 of 16 games, recovering from serious surgery.
The running back wasn’t fully healed from that injury, but he gave everything he had in his third season. He was having difficulty but he could not understand why the coaches kept giving opportunities to players that, frankly, couldn’t hold his jock. It was bad enough that the coaches asked him to do the impossible, but to then put a bunch of also-rans in the game ahead of him? He got no help from his teammates, who were also asked to do the impossible. He mentioned to some friends in the press that the team’s players were not being put in a position to make plays in the red zone. By the end of his third season, he had been supplanted by an undrafted rookie in the lineup. The evil coaches were fired and the little running back rejoiced.
The next year a new coaching staff came in and the little running back had hope again. They said he was going to get his shot. However, those coaches brought in their own players, and the running back was on the outside looking in heading to training camp. Everyone said he was going to get cut. If he got cut here without making some big plays in pre-season games he wasn’t going to get another shot.
And so, the little running back he did everything he could to turn every play into a touchdown. He did make a few plays and after getting cut he latched on to another club as a kick returner. He took a one-year veteran minimum salary and had a good but not great year as he adjusted to their schemes. The next year he waited in free agency for an opportunity to get back into an offensive role. It never came. The running back ended up in Canada, playing for the Ottawa Red-Blacks.
Next: Thomas Vanek returning to the Red Wings?
If Ameer Abdullah wants to stick around in the league, he needs to get base hits, not swing for the fences every play. He needs to figure out the special teams roles that don’t involve having the ball. He needs to avoid complaining about how he is being used in the media after games. Abdullah needs to swallow his ego and figure out how best to help the team as something other than the feature back of the offense. That ship has sailed.