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Saturday open thread: Who will lead the Lions in rushing touchdowns in 2017?

Which running back will spend the most time in the endzone next season?

NFL: Detroit Lions at Indianapolis Colts Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

It’s the weekend, y’all. We’re still over a month away from training camp, but we’re just eight weeks from Week 1 of the preseason. Football is close, and you can just feel it coming now that basketball and hockey is through.

Prediction week rolls on, and it’s time to address the Detroit Lions’ running game. Last year, Detroit lost their two best running backs to injury. The Lions could have added more backfield threats in the offseason but apparently decided that getting both Ameer Abdullah and Theo Riddick back from injury was enough to improve the running game to an acceptable level in 2017.

It’s clear the Lions will be using Abdullah as their No. 1 back, so I won’t be asking which running back will lead the team in rushing yards. Instead, today’s Question of the Day is:

Which Lions running back will lead the team in rushing touchdowns in 2017?

My answer: I’ll still go with Ameer Abdullah. While it’s certainly possible that Abdullah will get some touchdowns vultured at the goal line, it’s still not clear which “power” back Detroit will go with. At this point, I don’t have a lot of faith in Matt Asiata nor Zach Zenner to be the Lions’ red zone back.

So that leaves the door open for Abdullah to notch a handful of rushing touchdowns in 2017. That being said, I don’t really expect any Lions back to have more than five touchdowns this year. In fact, Detroit hasn’t had a player with five rushing touchdowns since 2014. I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened for a third year in a row.

Your turn.

Poll

Who will lead the Lions in rushing touchdowns in 2017?

This poll is closed

  • 48%
    Ameer Abdullah
    (381 votes)
  • 4%
    Theo Riddick
    (37 votes)
  • 10%
    Matt Asiata
    (84 votes)
  • 21%
    Zach Zenner
    (167 votes)
  • 5%
    Dwayne Washington
    (41 votes)
  • 7%
    Matthew Stafford
    (57 votes)
  • 3%
    Other
    (24 votes)
791 votes total Vote Now

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