I’ve mostly been against the idea of bringing in Fourtnette or really any running back for the Detroit Lions at this point. Then the Lions dropped their Wednesday injury report and they don’t have a single healthy running back on their 53-man roster.
Yes, Jahmyr Gibbs did return to practice on Wednesday. That’s a good sign that he could return Sunday. What’s not good is that David Montgomery is out for a while and now Craig Reynolds has shown up on the injury report with a hamstring and tow injury. Hamstrings are a tricky one. Gibbs just missed a couple weeks with a hamstring. They can be bad.
So what is this team to do? The Lions are about to play a tough Baltimore Ravens defense and while they showed that they can pass their way out of trouble, you have to at least try to have a run game.
Right now the Lions could go into this game with Gibbs, Mohamed Ibrahim, just days after his return, and Devine Ozigbo. The other option is they can call up Leonard Fournette’s agent and try to get a deal worked out this week.
Fournette has gone unsigned this season and it doesn’t make a ton of sense. He’s 28-years-old and he ran for 668 yards and three touchdowns last year. he’s never been the guy that people thought he could be coming out of college, but he’s reliable and the Lions need reliable right now.
Fournette was supposed to meet with the Buffalo Bills this week, but for some reason that got called off. It could be because the Bills were able to keep Ty Johnson on their practice squad. Fournette id looking for a better opportunity.
What better opportunity than a 5-1 football team? Even when Montgomery comes back, Fournette could still get some run as the Lions running back three. It’s worth a look for sure. Especially since he has a similar hard running style that Montgomery possesses.
If not this route, then the Lions are really risking things by going the other way. We’ll see what happens. Maybe Reynolds can come back on Thursday.