What could Lions get in trade for Abdullah?
RBs not hard to find, so Lions may be stuck with serviceable talent at roster cut-off
Running backs aren’t typically a hot trading commodity when National Football League teams trim their rosters to 53 players every September, but the Detroit Lions might be in the rare position to finagle a future draft pick out of what appears to be a surplus in the backfield when cut day comes around next month.
The Lions currently have six running backs (not including fullback Nick Bellore) on their 90-man roster, and will be hardpressed to keep more than four of those on the active roster.
Rookie second-round pick Kerryon Johnson had an impressive debut in Friday’s pre-season opener against the Oakland Raiders, and has the makings of the Lions’ starting tailback at some point soon.
He’s guaranteed a roster spot. LeGarrette Blount has been taking first-team reps much of the summer, and his role as the team’s big back isn’t in question. He’s locked into a job as well.
That leaves Theo Riddick, Ameer Abdullah, Zach Zenner and Dwayne Washington in the mix for probably two roster spots, with only one of those backs active on game day. Riddick did not play against the Raiders last week, but as one of the best pass-catching backs in the NFL, he’s most likely to see time as the Lions’ No. 3 back.
Would the Lions keep more than four running backs? It’s possible, but with Bellore, a good special-teams player, in the mix, it seems unlikely.
“I think we’re going to have three running backs active every Sunday, whenever we play a game,” general manager Bob Quinn said in an interview on WJR 760-AM last month.
Abdullah played well against the Raiders last week, running for 16 yards and a touchdown on four carries, and he’s more accomplished than Zenner or Washington (who have a combined 729 yards rushing in their careers). But while he seems like the top candidate for the No. 4 spot — remember, as Quinn said, the fourth running back won’t be active most Sundays and thus doesn’t have to have a big role on special teams — he also has more trade value than his teammates.
Lions coach Matt Patricia declined to say Monday how aggressive the team will be exploring trade options with its running backs as the season draws near.
But to make any deal, of course, the Lions will need to find a willing trade partner. RBs are not hard to find in the NFL, which is why their value has fallen so precipitously in the draft, and several proven veterans remain free agents including Adrian Peterson, Orleans Darkwa and Eddie Lacy.
Barring injury, most teams also appear comfortable at the position with a month left in the pre-season. Washington lost rookie Derrius Guice to a torn ACL last week, and could eventually be in the market for a replacement. But history says there isn’t typically much trade demand for serviceable running backs this time of year (and let’s be honest, that’s what the Lions’ backups are considered, or else they wouldn’t have felt the need to add Johnson and Blount this off-season).
According to the NFL’s historical transaction report, just two running backs have been traded around the roster cut deadline in the last three years. In 2015, the Cleveland Browns traded Terrance West to the Tennessee Titans for a conditional draft pick, and the same year the Seattle Seahawks sent Christine Michael to the Dallas Cowboys for a seventh-rounder.
There have been other in-season trades for running backs — Jay Ajayi to the Philadelphia Eagles and Peterson to the Arizona Cardinals last year; Knile Davis to the Green Bay Packers in 2016 — but only Ajayi (a fourth-round pick) has returned anything of consequence.
It’s been suggested that the Lions could get more for Riddick than Abdullah in a trade, and that’s probably correct. Riddick is signed through next season, when he has a reasonable US$3.2 million salary on the books, while Abdullah will be a free agent after this year.
But Riddick’s skill set seems like a better complement to the other backs the Lions have on their roster, and this is a team that has designs on contending this fall.
The Lions had one of the weakest running back groups in the NFL last season, which is part of the reason they ranked last in the league in rushing. Now, the unit feels like a strength.
I’m still not sure if it is not, though Johnson looks like the real deal. But if some NFL team out there agrees, Quinn has to parlay that into something for the future, lest the mirage disappear.