Detroit Lions: Will Ameer Abdullah rush for 1,000 yards in 2017?

After a disappointing second season cut short by injury, can Detroit Lions running back Ameer Abdullah break the 1,000 yard rushing mark in 2017?

The last time the Detroit Lions had a running back rush for over 1,000 yards it was 2013. And the running back? Reggie Bush. And he did so just barely. The former second overall pick in the 2006 NFL Draft rushed for just six yards over the mark that year.

Before Bush did it four years ago, you’d have to reach all the way back to 2004 and running back Kevin Jones for the last time the Lions’ had a 1,000-yard rusher on the roster. That’s a ton of mediocrity in the backfield for a long time.

When the Lions drafted Ameer Abdullah in the second round of the 2015 NFL Draft out of Nebraska, there was again hope for another dominate rusher in Detroit. I mean the kid had three consecutive 1,000-yards seasons for the Cornhuskers before joining the Lions. In his final two years at Nebraska, Abdullah rushed for an incredible 3,301 combined yards and 28 touchdowns.

But Abdullah’s slight frame at 5-foot-9, 203 pounds made the Lions’ coaching staff fearful. Ameer doesn’t look like the prototypical workhorse back. Instead, during his rookie season, he split the workload with two other running backs, Theo Riddick and Joique Bell.

Despite getting 115 less offensive snaps than Riddick, Abdullah led the team in rushing his rookie season with 597 yards on 143 carries. He averaged 4.2 yards per rushing attempt.

Last year was supposed to be Abdullah’s breakout year. But a season-ending foot injury, later revealed as a Lisfranc tear, limited the former second rounder to just two games in 2016.

Now healthy, Abdullah is once again on the brink of what should be a breakout season. But how much of the workload will he get this upcoming year following a major injury?

"“The Lions use a running-back-by-committee approach to their run game, but Abdullah is still expected to receive somewhere in the neighborhood of 200-plus carries as Detroit’s lead back,” wrote Tim Twentyman on the team’s official website. “Abdullah runs harder than his 5-9 frame might indicate, and he’s one of the shiftier backs in the league. He can also catch the ball out of the backfield, which should make him one of Detroit’s featured weapons in 2017.”"

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If Ameer Abdullah is given 200 carries this upcoming season, and he averages 4.2 yards per carry like he did his rookie year, that would make his regular season total 840 rushing yards. That’s obviously not enough to break the 1,000-yard benchmark. But that added production would likely be enough to alleviate some of the pressure off of quarterback Matthew Stafford and help this Detroit Lions’ team play the time of possession game and drain the clock in the fourth quarter.