D'Andre Swift's injury history may be more about mismanagement than anything else

Following the Philadelphia Eagles' decision to trade for D’Andre Swift, there was some jibber jabber about his durability. The statement that rang most loudly... He has been labeled in some circles as being injury prone, and he hasn’t played a full season in his career.

That isn't a bad argument. It isn't a great one either. One has to examine the entire picture. If you look deeper you'll see that, in those three seasons, he’s played 13 games in 2020, 13 games in 2021, and 14 games in 2022. His absences are the result of five injuries.

Labeling Eagles star D'Andre Swift as injury prone is a bit excessive.

Does just missing a handful of games mean someone is injury prone? Nah, dude. He’s a running back. Things happen. The chance of an injury occurring increases when a bonehead team makes bonehead decisions about his usage.

You might ask the following question. ‘D’Andre Swift put a dent in the stat sheet, didn't he?' The answer to that question is yes. He tallied 99 carries resulting in 542 yards and five touchdowns. That isn't a career year, but think about the following statement, one discovered not too long ago

GREAT points are made. The Lions had a good season in 2022, but that doesn’t mean they’re a well-run franchise that is making the best decisions. 

Sometimes, the NFL franchises won’t offer the same care you'd expect from a loving and nurturing grandmother or a school nurse. Sure, they employ the best physicians in the world, but they encourage guys who are still injured to get back and play through injuries. This is a theory that bit D’Andre Swift, not in the kneecaps as Lions head coach Dan Campbell would say, but in the ankle and shoulder. 

Draft Sharks Injury Guide, (formerly known as SportsInjuryPredictor), gives Swift an 88% chance of missing multiple quarters this season due to injury. That isn't surprising. Still, one could argue that is startling. They even went so far as to place “88%” in bold red lettering,

Where does D’Andre Swift rank?

Draft Sharks also gives Swift the 12th highest odds among running backs to miss time this season. Some of the guys ranked in front of him are Joe Mixon (11), Derrick Henry (9), Jamaal Williams (6), Miles Sanders (2), and of course Dalvin Cook (1).

Sanders and Williams are notable because they didn’t miss a game last year. Swift and Williams were in the same RB room the previous year and Swift is coming in as a potential replacement for Sanders. Here's something else to consider. Perhaps this will lighten the mood. 

That's an excellent point, Tom. ‘Injury Prone’ is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad label to slap onto a player, and it’s seemingly a worse label if that player is a running back. D’Andre Swift shouldn't be given the scarlet letter, but he'll have to prove that by being durable this season.