All offseason, Isiah Pacheco was projected to be the Detroit Lions' No. 2 running back behind Jahmyr Gibbs. But an early August knee injury had a back issue added to it later, and Pacheco was placed on IR to start the season.
During the minimum four games Pacheco will miss, the Lions' RB2 situation feels unsettled. Jacob Saylors certainly did enough during the preseason to earn the role, but third-year man Sione Vaki lingers in the equation too.
On Monday, as prep for Week 1 against the New Orleans Saints gets set to start, head coach Dan Campbell was asked about Saylors rise from the UFL to being the Lions' RB2.
Campbell took the opportunity to offer broader thoughts on that depth chart spot.
"I kinda mentioned this, to me, it's by committee too", Campbell said. "I see Vaki getting some reps, too, now. I don’t see, ‘Okay, Saylors is like running back two.’ Saylors brings special teams value and there’s things that he’s been able to do. We’ve seen more of him than Vaki in games, preseason games."
"But Vaki’s banked some pretty good reps in practice, and we know Vaki’s a very valuable special teams player, too. But we feel like Vaki’s ready to take some of this on, too, as a runner and as a pass protector and a receiver. So we feel good about either one of those guys in there when Jah (Gibbs) needs a breather.”
Early season RB2 dynamic only bolsters size of Jahmyr Gibbs' role
So, if things come together as Campbell professed, whatever snaps and touches Gibbs leaves for other running backs early in the season will be split between Saylors and Vaki. Based on the entirety of Campbell's comments, the split may even tilt toward Vaki, who has 27 offensive snaps and 10 touches on his resume over two seasons.
Vaki is an unknown quantity as a running back until shown otherwise, and Campbell acknowledged as much during minicamp.
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“The running back position is a little raw,” Campbell said, via Pride of Detroit. “Yes, he has been in there, he did a little bit in college, this is year three, but he hasn’t played running back, not that much, and a lot of it is injury.”
Gibbs is going to be the bellcow back for the Lions. Now the role Pacheco was in line to have basically all to himself behind him is going to be split, if not reduced in an overall sense for at least the first four games.
Those who were in a position to invest a lofty fantasy draft pick in Gibbs are happy anyway, and they should be even happier now.
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