One of the more interesting battles that I had my eye on when the Detroit Lions reported to camp a few weeks back was the running back three battle. Here we are 15 days to go before the the Lions have to cut down to 53 guys and we still really have no answer. 

"Special teams. That's where it's all going to start with those backs and everyone has an opportunity." Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell said. "our eyes are open we were looking for a third back and it all starts with special teams man if they can help us there then we'll figure out the offensive side of it."

Believe it or not, that doesn't really narrow it down for the Lions. Every guy in the room is capable of putting in work on special teams. to make matters worse, the Lions are dealing with injuries at this spot now too. Craig Reynolds, Mohamed Ibrahim and Jermar Jefferson are all banged up.

That was the original battle. It was. Triple threat if you will. Now that triple threat has turned into a battle Royal with the additions of Devine Ozigbo and Benny Snell. 

Ozigbo brings in a bit of a connection with the coaching staff. He was with the Saints when Dan Campbell was the assistant coach in New Orleans. He’s yet to really catch on anywhere, but maybe Campbell sees something there. Ozigbo looked decent in Friday’s preseason game too. 

Snell is a power runner that got some real run with the Steelers in 2019 and 2020, but was relegated more to the special teams side of things in 2021 and 2022. Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren really took the bull of the carries in Pittsburgh. 

At this point, I’m leaning towards Snell

being the guy that the Lions go with as their running back three. He has the most experience at the role and can probably contribute the most when it comes to special teams.

Craig Reynolds and Jermar Jefferson have mostly been quiet during camp. That doesn’t mean they can’t still win the job, it just kind of feels like they’re both out at this point. Mohamed Ibrahim was starting to come on before he got hurt Friday. He seems like a guy that’s ready for the practice squad as opposed to the 53 man roster.

The second preseason game could tell us a lot about who will eventually start to separate themselves from the pack. 

An interesting note to all of this is that Campbell mentioned something to the effect of the team not knowing who the fourth running back would be either. The Lions did bring in four running backs to the season last year and they could very well do that again. Ultimately I would guess that the fourth spot could be for the fullback Jason Cabinda. Unless the Lions decide to not have a full back this year. They played most of the 2022 season without one and things went well.

If they go with four running backs and no fullback, then things get even more interesting than they already are. Snell and the incumbent Reynolds or the rookie Ibrahim could be a nice group to go with David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs. 

Featured image by Junfu Han/Detroit Free Press / USA TODAY NETWORK