Detroit Lions players react to trade of D’Andre Swift

On Saturday, the Detroit Lions traded running back D’Andre Swift for a 2025 fourth-round pick and a swap of seventh-round picks with the Philadelphia Eagles. It wasn’t an unexpected trade after the Lions spent the 12th overall pick in the draft on Jahmyr Gibbs, an obvious replacement for Swift.

Saturday night, Lions general manager Brad Holmes explained why the move was made.

“We don’t draft scared. We don’t kind of play scared. The thing with Jahmyr Gibbs is that’s the guy that we loved,” Holmes said. “But again, having to keep that laser focus for the future is obviously kind of a part of it. But obviously, we want to do the right thing for the player. That’s kind of how we do it. So, I think at the end of the day, him being able to go back to his hometown on a really, really good team that was just in the Super Bowl, I think it was a win-win for all parties involved.”

Swift is now the third Lions player to be traded since the 2022 deadline, joining tight end T.J. Hockenson and cornerback Jeff Okudah.

That’s a lot of shuffling of the roster for three players who were once viewed to be significant components of this roster. All three players were taken in the first two rounds of their respective drafts.

So how are Swift’s former Lions teammates responding to the news? Let’s start by looking at the running back room, and what they said on social media Saturday night.

Here’s Jermar Jefferson:

And Craig Reynolds:

Here’s a look at other players on the Lions reacting to the news:

To conclude, here’s a smattering of former Lions players giving their thoughts, starting with Swift’s new teammate Darius Slay: