D'Andre
Swift.
D'Andre
Swift.
Georgia· 5'8"· 212 lb· 4.48s 40
"The most complete back in the 2020 class, a 6.6-yards-per-carry Georgia runner who caught passes like a slot receiver and protected the quarterback like a ten-year veteran."Pre-draft read
Smooth, three-down back with rare feet for a 212-pound runner. He set up defenders with subtle tempo changes, cut without losing speed and slipped through creases in the SEC's best run game while averaging 6.6 yards a carry across three seasons.
The receiving work made him a true weapon: 73 catches at 9.1 yards a reception, with the route sense to split out and the hands to play away from his frame. In pass protection he was willing and sound, which is why evaluators saw an every-down role. The concerns were durability, ball security with seven career fumbles, and a tendency to bounce runs outside. The signature was the change of direction: he could make a defender miss in a single step.
Zone-based run game paired with a passing offense that splits the back out and uses him as a genuine receiving target on all three downs.
Year 1: co-starter with 12-15 touches and all third-down work. Ceiling: a 1,400-yard-from-scrimmage every-down back.
Heavy gap-scheme offense that wants twenty-five carries a game between the tackles and takes him off the field on passing downs.
He needs an offense that treats him as a receiver first and a runner second.
Georgia RB D'Andre Swift 2019 Highlights
The junior season that made him the top back in the class.
D'Andre Swift Career Highlights
Three seasons of SEC carries and receiving work condensed.
RSP Film Room: RB D'Andre Swift, Georgia vs. Alabama and Auburn
Full-game breakdown against the two best defenses he faced.
Swift left Georgia as the consensus top running back of the 2020 class. He backed up Nick Chubb and Sony Michel as a freshman and still rushed for 618 yards at 7.6 a carry, then posted back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons: 1,049 yards and ten touchdowns in 2018 and 1,218 with seven scores as a junior. Across 43 games he carried 440 times for 2,885 yards at 6.6 per attempt and caught 73 passes for 666 yards.
The athletic testing backed the tape. He ran 4.48 at the combine at 5-8 and 212 pounds with a 35.5-inch vertical and a broad jump of ten feet one inch, confirming the burst and short-area quickness that showed on film against Alabama and Auburn.
The file described a complete back. He could run between the tackles, he was a legitimate receiving threat rather than a checkdown outlet, and he protected the quarterback, which meant no reason to take him off the field on third down. The questions were the workload profile at his size, a fumble rate that needed cleaning, and the eternal argument about where a running back belongs on a draft board. Detroit, needing a complement and eventually a replacement for Kerryon Johnson, took him 35th overall as the second back off the board.
- 01
Change of direction
Cuts without gearing down and makes defenders miss in a single step inside a phone booth.
- 02
Receiving weapon
Caught 73 passes at 9.1 yards a reception with real route sense, not just checkdown volume.
- 03
Efficiency
Averaged 6.6 yards on 440 career carries against SEC defenses, a remarkable rate for a three-year sample.
- 04
Pass protection
Willing and technically sound in blitz pickup, which keeps him on the field on third down as a rookie.
- 05
Testing profile
Ran 4.48 with a 35.5-inch vertical and a ten-foot-one broad jump, confirming the burst the film shows.
- 01
Ball security
Seven fumbles in three college seasons, four of them lost, a rate that gets a young back benched.
- 02
Workload projection
At 5-8 and 212 pounds in a committee at Georgia, he never carried a true bell-cow volume.
- 03
Bouncing runs
Drifts outside instead of pressing interior creases, leaving yards on the ground against disciplined fronts.
- 04
Positional value
A running back taken at the top of round two in a market that increasingly refuses to pay the position.
Relative Athletic Score (Kent Lee Platte) benchmarks combine/pro-day numbers against every measured prospect at the position since 1987. 10.00 is elite; 5.00 is average.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.48sp50
- Vertical
- 35.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 121inp50
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G | Att | Yds | TD | Rec | RecYds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Georgia | 15 | 81 | 618 | 3 | 17 | 153 |
| 2018 | Georgia | 14 | 163 | 1049 | 10 | 32 | 297 |
| 2019 | Georgia | 14 | 196 | 1218 | 7 | 24 | 216 |
| Career | — | 43 | 440 | 2885 | 20 | 73 | 666 |
Season lines cross-checked against StatMuse and the Lions draft bio: the three years sum exactly to 440 carries, 2,885 rushing yards, 20 rushing touchdowns, 73 receptions and 666 receiving yards across 43 games, and the 25 total touchdowns match. Game counts include the SEC Championship and bowl or playoff games in each season.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
An efficient, explosive committee back who posts elite yards per carry without ever carrying a full bell-cow load.
The ceiling: a receiving-first back whose scrimmage volume makes him the engine of an entire offense.
The downside: a talented back whose injuries and fumbles keep him from ever holding the job for a full season.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
The first three years in Detroit were a committee, and a productive one. He posted 521 rushing yards and 46 catches as a rookie, then 617 and a career-high 62 receptions in 2021, then 542 yards at 5.5 a carry in 2022 while battling injuries and splitting work. Detroit traded him to Philadelphia in April 2023, where he finally got volume and answered with 1,049 rushing yards on 229 carries and a Pro Bowl nod. Chicago signed him in 2024 and he has been the featured back for three seasons: 253 carries for 959 yards in his first year, then a career-best 1,087 yards and nine touchdowns on 4.9 a carry in 2025, and 169 yards with three scores through two games in 2026.
The verdict is a clear hit at the slot. The receiving profile translated completely, the efficiency held up across three organizations, and the fumbling concern proved real without ever becoming disqualifying. He has never been a back who wins a season by himself, and injuries cost him games in Detroit, but roughly 7,100 scrimmage yards and fifty touchdowns from the third pick of round two is a return almost no other back in this class matched.
Data note: Imported from Wikipedia 2020 NFL draft player selections table.