NFL Draft: Fantasy football impact of D'Andre Swift to the Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions made D'andre Swift the 35th selection in Friday's NFL Draft. What does landing in Detroit mean for Swift's Fantasy outlook?
loading...
loading...
The NFL Draft is finally here! Stay up to date on all the betting and Fantasy news from the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft.
Track every player picked with SportsLine's NFL Draft Tracker. Fantasy experts Jacob Gibbs and Scott Engel will update the tracker in real time on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday as players are selected. SportsLine members will have access to the Fantasy outlook for every Fantasy-relevant skill position player selected, as soon as they're selected!
With the 35th pick in the NFL Draft, the Detroit Lions selected running back D'Andre Swift out of Georgia. Find Swift's 2020 Fantasy outlook below:
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 215
Age: 21.2
Dynasty Ranking: 1.11 (RB5)
Redraft Ranking: RB38
Rushing: 99 carries for 415 yards and 3 touchdowns
Receiving: 43 catches for 323 yards and 2 touchdowns
D'Andre Swift's game is built for the current NFL. He is among the best pass-catching backs in the draft, so he should have no problem seeing the field -- even as a rookie. In addition to impressive hands and route running ability, Swift possesses the feel and vision of a seasoned veteran rusher.
Swift doesn't have the elite combine numbers like Jonathan Taylor, but he has true three-down back potential and fewer weaknesses to his game.
Now that we have the good out of the way, let's talk about the bad. The landing spot couldn't have been much worse for Swift. He'll compete with Kerryon Johnson -- who has been nothing but excellent when on the field. Johnson, Detroit's second-round selection in 2018, has shown great promise but struggled to ever build momentum because of the frequent trips to the trainers room. He and Swift will form some sort of committee for an offense that Matt Patricia seems insistent on being run-first.
Detroit's offense was one that looked like a potential Fantasy goldmine for 2020, if what we saw from Matt Stafford on the deep ball in 2019 was any indication. Will Swift have a consistent role in that offense and be someone we can trust in Fantasy on a weekly basis? It is almost definitely going to take an injury to Kerryon Johnson for that to happen. As of now, I am projecting Swift to be on the wrong side of a 40/60 playing time split, which makes him barely relevant for redraft purposes in 2020.
For dynasty drafters, Swift and Jonathan Taylor's suboptimal landing spot just made this draft a bit weaker. Swift went from my RB3, behind only Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Jonathan Williams, to my RB5. Taylor went from RB2 to RB4. Swift is a fringe first-round pick in dynasty now, depending on how the rest of the draft shakes out for backs like JK Dobbins and Cam Akers.
So which players are poised for breakouts, which sleepers do you need to jump on, and which busts should you avoid at all costs in your Fantasy football league? Join SportsLine now to get early 2020 Fantasy football rankings, plus see which WR is going to come out of nowhere to crack the top 10, all from the model that out-performed experts big time last season.