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Detroit Lions: Ameer Abdullah should be the guy

By Kevin Parvizi

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There was once a time when I was a prudent NFL observer who was too hesitant- actually, “reluctant” is the more appropriate word here- to lavishly drop praise on a young player for an impressive performance (or even an impressive season). After Aaron Rodgers taught me a lesson about taking too long to jump on a player’s bandwagon, I’ve taken the time to give heavy props to ascending talents, such as when I ranked Odell Beckham Jr. tops among wide receivers.

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Detroit Lions rookie running back Ameer Abdullah only received seven carries yesterday in a meaningless preseason game, but Abdullah knew that those carries would carry a huge amount of weight when it comes to his chances at starting over veteran Joique Bell. Abdullah turned those seven carries into 67 yards, averaging a whopping 9.6 yards per carry on the strength of a sensational 45-yard run that displayed all of the skills he regularly showed off at Nebraska.

For those NFL fans who never had the pleasure of watching Abdullah before or hearing any of his training camp hype, his long run and overall performance were a huge wake-up call. It’s caused his fantasy stock to soar, even if fellow RBs Zach Zenner and Theo Riddick were also plenty impressive against the New York Jets defense.

As you can see, Abdullah’s run was a masterpiece in hip agility, decisiveness, explosiveness between the tackles, agility, and purposeful footwork. Unlike Melvin Gordon, who has been stutter-stepping all camp and struggled in his preseason debut, Abdullah knew exactly where to go and made a devastating move to find the crease.

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The blocking in front of him certainly helped, but this was a case of great decision-making, vision, and physical tools combining to generate a big play. Yes, Abdullah did run out of steam on this one, but his dominance before the line of scrimmage shows that this wasn’t some flash-in-the-pan play.

Again, if you watched his tape in college, you’d know that this sort of a run from Abdullah is quite commonplace, and he’s clearly more than just another “small” back. Coaches have raved about how difficult he’s been to tackle during Lions training camp, and the Jets just couldn’t match is short-area explosiveness. Like Philadelphia Eagles star DeMarco Murray, Abdullah looks like the kind of back who can consistently deliver chunks of yardage, and he didn’t even need to pick up yards after contact on this big run; the Jets just couldn’t get a hand on his jersey.

Although there’s a desire to be cautious before hyping up a young running back, I just don’t see the upside in naming Bell the starter over him. If anything, the less explosive, injury-plagued veteran (Bell missed the Jets game with a knee issue) should be the backup, especially since rookie running backs generally do a good job of translating to the NFL. After all, Jeremy Hill and Tre Mason looked pretty darn impressive last season, and neither were as touted as Abdullah coming into the draft.

Aug 13, 2015; Detroit, MI, USA; Detroit Lions running back Ameer Abdullah (21) evades a tackle from New York Jets free safety Calvin Pryor (25) during the first quarter of a preseason NFL football game at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports

With all due respect to deserving first-round prospects Todd Gurley and Gordon, Ameer Abdullah is the most agile back in this touted rookie class, and with Gurley recovering from a major injury and MG3 taking some early lumps, the Lions rookie RB has been viewed by some as the better Offensive Rookie of the Year pick. While I’m not willing to go that far just yet (after all, it was just one preseason game), I am willing to take him over Bell.

Firstly, Bell has averaged just 3.9 yards per carry in back-to-back seasons, and he’s only been impressive in the passing game on volume alone. Lions writers have given me some really favorable projections when it comes to Abdullah’s total yards from scrimmage this year, and this was before last night’s huge performance against the Jets.

And if you want to use the “ball security” argument as a way for arguing in favor of Bell as the safer and more experienced argument, then that’s a pretty easy notion to deflate with this stat.

What Abdullah showed us last night is exactly what he’s shown college football fans and the Detroit Lions on a consistent basis, and beat writer Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com called him an “early star” in training camp. He more than backed it up yesterday, and that run is an example of trait-based scouting at its finest. We saw elite traits on that run, and they will continue to show up throughout the season.

The one worry with Abdullah is that he might not be able to hold up due to his lack of size, but he runs with such toughness in between the tackles that I see him as an exception to the rule; he isn’t the next Andre Ellington. And after posting the best vertical leap (42.5 inches!), three-cone drill, and 20 and 60-yard shuttle times among RBs at the Combine, it’s clear that he’s even more athletic, and that more than makes up for his 4.60 forty time (his slight lack of long speed was on display on that run, but his work in shorter areas more than makes up for him running out of gas).

Of course, Abdullah isn’t the only young Lions RB worth  watching closely, because Zenner could start to climb (he definitely has intriguing traits) and third-down back Theo Riddick continues to state his case for touches.

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