Sione Vaki is about to get a real shot on offense.
With the Lions carrying just three running backs on their current 51-man roster, Dan Campbell said the team plans to use all of them in Sunday’s season opener against the New Orleans Saints. Jahmyr Gibbs is the clear lead back, but Campbell described Jacob Saylors and Vaki as a committee behind him.
“I see Vaki getting some reps, too, now,” Campbell said. “I don’t see like, 'OK, well 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.”
Saylors made the strongest preseason case of the two. He was one of Detroit’s standouts in exhibition play and finished the finale against the Indianapolis Colts with 100 rushing yards. After that game, Campbell said he was “comfortable” with Saylors as Gibbs’ primary backup while Isiah Pacheco is out with a back injury.
Vaki’s preseason never really got rolling because of injuries. He missed Week 1 with a broken nose, sat out Week 2 with back spasms and then was held out of Week 3 for precautionary reasons. Even so, Campbell said he got significant work in the second half of camp during Pacheco’s absence.
The experience gap still matters. Saylors has more of a track record at running back, including a stint in the UFL last spring and two carries for 11 yards for the Lions last fall. Vaki, by contrast, played mostly safety in college and has seven carries across his first two NFL seasons.
Still, Campbell made it clear he believes Vaki’s role can grow.
“We feel like Vaki’s ready to take some of this on, too, as a runner and a pass protector,” Campbell said. “And receiver, so we feel good with either one of those guys in there when Jah needs a breather.”
Detroit’s roster picture beyond that remains unsettled. The Lions have two open spots, and Campbell wouldn’t say who will fill them, though he said the team has “a pretty good idea right now” of how it wants to handle the roster.
“Our eyes are always open,” Campbell said. “We’re always going to be about competition, but I think we’ve got a pretty good idea what we want to do going into this game. You never know, things can fluctuate, but yeah, we know what we want to do.”
The Lions are thin at a few spots, including running back with three players, receiver with four and the offensive line with eight. One option is to elevate one or two veterans from the practice squad.
Tom Kennedy is in line to play against the Saints and handle return duties, either on the 53-man roster or as a practice squad elevation. Another path is using the spots on younger players whose contracts would not be guaranteed, since vested veterans on Week 1 rosters have their deals guaranteed for the season.
There’s also some good news in the secondary. Campbell said safety Thomas Harper, who missed the end of camp with an ankle injury, will return to practice Monday and should be ready for the Saints. He did not give an update on Christian Izien, who was sidelined late in camp with a leg injury, but said, “We feel good about that room right now.”
The Lions had an hourlong practice scheduled Monday and were expected to vote for captains.
“Kind of a new season now, really officially tomorrow just for us,” Campbell said. “We’ll get them moving a little bit, get a little intro to New Orleans, but really tomorrow will be our big work day for base downs. But it’s good that it’s finally here.”
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