Notes: D’Andre Swift pushes Detroit Lions closer to ‘matchup-proof offense’

Normally by this point in the offseason, we’d have a fair amount of rookie hype. Rookie minicamp and face-to-face interviews would introduce fans to their team’s draft class, building excitement for the team’s newest and youngest players.

Unfortunately with COVID-19 continuing to cancel NFL events, we haven’t really had the opportunity to meet the Detroit Lions’ nine draft picks this year.

Thankfully, the fellas over at The Athletic have been slowly going through the tape of all the Lions’ draft picks and journaling their thoughts as they go. Their latest—courtesy of Chris Burke and Nick Baumgardner—breaks down the film of Georgia running back D’Andre Swift, the Lions’ second-round pick.

Burke and Baumgardner do a good job, noting his strengths and weaknesses, but the most intriguing part is where they wonder out loud how Swift will combine with 2018 draft pick Kerryon Johnson.

“What I like about it first and foremost is that it pushes the Lions closer to that matchup-proof offense they covet,” Burke wrote. “Playing a defense that’s stout inside but shoddy on the edges? Maybe that’s a Swift game. Want to lean on inside runs? Maybe that’s Johnson or even Bo Scarbrough.”

You can read the entire breakdown here if you subscribe to The Athletic. And while you’re there, you may want to check out their previous breakdowns of Jeff Okudah and Julian Okwara.

• In addition to the two preseason games, the NFL has cancelled the 2020 supplemental draft. Sorry for the handful of you that were fans of drafts that included no more than two selections.

• Lions Wire’s Jeff Risdon has four things he’s learned about the Lions this virtual offseason, including his expectation for a veteran to assume a leadership role this year.

• Well, this isn’t exactly promising...

• He may have a hard time convincing fans, but Lions defensive coordinator Cory Undlin likes the depth the team has at defensive tackle.

• Jeff Okudah got shorted by Big Ten Network’s All-Decade Team, and he let everyone know it: