Seven bold predictions for the Detroit Lions in 2018
By Ash Thompson
Blount and Johnson in with Abdullah’s role diminished
LeGarrette Blount is a lot of things. He is big, relatively quick for that size, and he is above all else, proven. You know exactly what Blount will give the Lions. He is a power back.
The Lions completely lacked that element in their backfield last season. He will be better in the role because if you were to apply a slope to a graph of the improvement he offers, it is a straight vertical line. The improvement is infinite.
Johnson does not have to be good to offer an improvement over last season’s running back performance. He needs to give the Lions more than a broken down and recovering Ameer Abdullah offered in 2017.
The injuries along the offensive line did not help Abdullah, but given the nature of the two players, and the likely implementation of a much more north/south running scheme, the end result of Johnson’s addition will be better than the 3.3 yards per carry that the Lions got out of Abdullah last season. That takes us to number 21 himself.
I have every reason to believe that that the north/south focus will elevate Abdullah’s performance as well. He was being asked to or at least given the option to, perform, multiple cuts before reaching the line of scrimmage in 2017. He usually began his runs with horizontal movements parallel to the line of scrimmage.
This was likely, at least in part, because he didn’t believe in the blocking he was getting. Realistically, there was no reason for him to have any faith. If you look at the scheme of offensive line coach Jeff Davidson’s teams, that messing around behind the line does not feature prominently.
Abdullah’s load will not be the same as it was last year. He is in the role of a kick returner and third or fourth option at running back rather than at the top of the depth chart.
If you do not think Abdullah can outperform Dwayne Washington and Zach Zenner‘s performance from 2017 in that role; I do not know what you’re seeing that I am not. Even in his worst season, Abdullah was 1.1 yards per carry better than those two with the same blocking.