Lions RB Ameer Abdullah ponders future after 'very different' year

This season didn’t go at all how Ameer Abdullah planned.

Abdullah opened the year as the Lions’ starting running back and led the team with 552 yards rushing, but he finished as the third back in a timeshare and now awaits an uncertain future this offseason.

“It’s just been very sporadic, very different for me,” Abdullah told the Free Press last week. “It’s been a very different experience. I’m used to being a solid contributor to my team in all phases, at all times, when I was playing. So just kind of work with what I’m given right now. It’s interesting, but I think it’s teaching me a lot.”

Abdullah said he’ll “cross that road when it comes” when asked if he desires a fresh start elsewhere given his diminished role, but for now he remains under contract for one more season with the Lions.

General manager Bob Quinn did not mention Abdullah by name at his postseason news conference Monday, but he said he does not feel like he overestimated his backfield last year, when he did not add help in free agency or the draft, and he does not regret passing on players like Alvin Kamara and Kareem Hunt who had standout rookie seasons.

“I think our running backs, they didn’t perform as good as everyone thought. I think that’s the facts,” Quinn said. “But I think we have guys in that room that are tough guys, they’re smart guys, they have skill. Will we add someone? Probably, to that room. Absolutely. But that’s how the NFL really rolls. Every year there’s about 30% turnover on teams, so you’re never going to have the same team year to year.”

Abdullah’s future with the team is murky after three bumpy seasons.

He led the team in rushing as a rookie second-round pick in 2015, but was in and out of the lineup that year because of fumble problems and underwent shoulder surgery after the season.

Last year, he suffered a Lisfranc injury in Week 2 and had just 18 carries.

And this year, he was demoted amid inconsistent play late in the season as the Lions used Theo Riddick and Tion Green as their top two backs.

“Of course, I would love to finish where I started, for sure,” Abdullah said. “But there’s 32 teams and I know who I am and I know what kind of player I am, especially when I’m getting the proper opportunity and things are right around me. So I’m definitely confident.”

Has he been given the proper opportunity in Detroit given the way he’s performed?

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“At times,” Abdullah said. “I think, as a group it’s kind of hard for all of us, especially I just go down the line like Theo, he does a lot of things well in the passing game but it’s hard for him to get going sometimes because then they got to put me in. Then when I come in, we do a lot of things in the quick passing game and in the running game, but it’s hard for me to get a groove because I’m out then you got Tion coming in. Tion does a lot of bruising and does a lot of downhill running, but it’s hard for him to get warm because he’s out.

“It’s not necessarily an opportunity on paper what you see. You see on paper, Abdullah’s the starter for the day, that’s cool. But it’s the groundworks that makes it tough. And I think that’s what’s been the hardest thing for me to adjust to is not being in there, getting in that groove, and I can say that for everybody in our room.”

The Lions preferred a backfield by committee under former head coach Jim Caldwell, and that could remain in place going forward. Riddick has been one of the most productive pass-catching backs in the NFL over the course of his career, and Green, an undrafted rookie, proved he was worthy of a longer look next season in a five-game audition late in the season when he averaged nearly 4 yards per carry.

The Lions finished last in the NFL in rushing at 76.3 yards per game, and Abdullah acknowledged changes need to be made to fix that.

“I think it’s everything,” he said. “I think it’s scheme, I think it’s everything in terms that goes into making a good running game, everything’s a problem right now. Like I said, it takes a lot of internal reflection in the offseason to get better and not be stubborn in the sense of I did my job or I’m good enough here, understanding that everybody has to get better and everybody has to improve.”

Abdullah said that starts with him, and he’s looking forward to having his first offseason as a pro to get better.

He won’t spend his spring rehabbing from surgery for the first time since his final season at Nebraska, and he still believes he can be “a dynamic player” if given the opportunity to be a lead back in the NFL.

“(This year has) taught me a lot in terms of what’s important in terms of how you handle your business every single day no matter if it’s raining outside or if it’s sunny," Abdullah said. "Obviously that’s a metaphor, but it’s definitely been a great learning curve for me. So I just know great things are going to come because I feel like I’ve been through everything I could. Injuries, pulled out, everything. There’s nothing else for me to face that I haven’t seen, so everything in life is still out there for me to get. Like I said, one more year on my contract here, 24 years old. I’m very young, and I can still play ball, obviously. So I got a lot to gain, a lot to work on and that’s pretty much my focus."

Contact Dave Birkett: dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett. Download our Lions Xtra app for free on Apple and Android!