NFL Week 13 action between the 49ers and Eagles is covered live by The Athletic.
A league source confirmed to The Athletic on Saturday that the Lions dealt running back D’Andre Swift to the Eagles in exchange for a 2025 fourth-round pick and a 2023 seventh-round pick. What you should know is as follows:
On Thursday, Detroit made a trade to pick RB Jahmyr Gibbs at No. 12.
Since being selected as the 35th pick in the 2020 draft, Swift has participated in 40 games. In that time, he’s gained 1,680 yards and 18 touchdowns through rushing.
Leading rusher for the Eagles, Miles Sanders, inked an offseason contract with the Panthers.
Why the Lions took this action
Swift’s future seemed inevitable when the Lions selected Alabama’s Gibbs in the first round on Thursday night. Swift, a second-round selection in 2020, was about to finish his rookie contract with the Lions. Before players’ contracts expire, general manager Brad Holmes has a history of trading players. Even well before the draft took place, it was difficult to see Swift as a long-term fit in Detroit given his durability concerns and the money awarded to free-agent RB David Montgomery.
Swift was brought up during Holmes’ Thursday night interview with the local media. “Yeah, I mean, D’Andre, he’s still on our roster,” was his response. He remains a member of our group. He and we still have a contract in place. He’s a talented footballer. Thus, the math there hasn’t really changed as a result of the Gibbs pick yet, but it’s early.
Not exactly a glowing recommendation. In the end, Holmes made the deal, trading seventh-round picks with the Eagles in exchange for a 2025 fourth-round pick. This seems like a wise decision on all sides.
Why Swift was desired by the Eagles
Players in the final year of their rookie contracts who the team that drafted them may have decided to cut go are a target for the Eagles. Some recent examples are Jordan Howard, Tim Jernigan, and C.J. Gardner-Johnson. Swift is an attempt at a player with big-play potential who was selected highly in the second round at the age of 24. He was born in Philadelphia and attended Georgia, which is, as you may have observed, an Eagles feeder school. He has touches available in an undetermined depth chart. On the third day of the draft, the Eagles probably wouldn’t have discovered a running back with greater talent.
The team’s reasoning is that by adding a player who has lost favor elsewhere, their predicted value may end up being better than that of a running back they would have to use a draft selection to acquire. If it succeeds, he may be able to negotiate a longer deal with the organization or, in the event that he leaves in free agency, contribute to their compensatory pick calculation. However, the goal is to meet an urgent need.
