D'Onta Foreman

Texas running back D'Onta Foreman said he's met with the Lions at the combine.

(AP Photo)

INDIANAPOLIS -- You can't throw a free coffee here without hitting somebody interviewing with an NFL team. It's part of the process. Teams aren't just speaking with the players they like, but also some the ones they don't, so they can begin paring their draft boards.



Long story short: Don't read too much into who is meeting with who. It's all part of the vetting process.



With that said, it has become apparent the Detroit Lions are using the early days of the combine to do their homework on what some NFL people think could be one of the deepest running back classes in draft history.



Detroit has interviewed all manner of running back prospects in Indianapolis, from possible first-round prospects like Tennessee's Alvin Kamara and Texas' D'Onta Freeman, to Day 2-3 backs like Oklahoma's Samaje Perine, Toledo's Kareem Hunt and San Diego State's Donnel Pumphrey.



Needless to say, Lions running backs coach David Walker has been a busy guy.



"A good dude," Kamara said of his meeting with Walker. "Just talking some football."

Detroit, which hasn't finished in the top 10 in rushing since 1998 -- yes, when Barry Sanders was still patrolling the Silverdome -- tried repairing the running game in 2015. It drafted Ameer Abdullah in the second round that year, plus added a guard (Laken Tomlinson) in the first and even a fullback in the fifth (Michael Burton).

But the running game actually got worse that year, falling to last in the league, and it improved to only 30th last year, though its per rush average actually dropped from 3.8 to 3.7. The club has finished no better than 28th in rushing since the arrival of coach Jim Caldwell in 2014.

So now they're back in the running back market and considering prospects of all shapes and sizes, even with Ameer Abdullah, Theo Riddick, Zach Zenner and Dwayne Washington all under contract for next season.

"I think the running back position as a whole in the National Football League, there's very few guys that just carry the ball 30 times a game," Quinn said this week in Indianapolis. "So we're not going to just put all our eggs in one basket and say, 'You know, Ameer Abdullah's going to carry it 25 times.' I don't think that's realistic. I think the stable of backs that we have with Ameer, Theo, Zach and Dwayne is a good set of backs.



"We've just got to improve the entire running game. That includes, like, how the receivers block, how the tight ends block, the offensive line, the playcalling. Like, everything needs to get evaluated, and we're in the middle of that process right now."



Lucky for Detroit, this draft is stocked with more running back talent than scouts have seen in years. Multiple backs have been selected in the first round just once since 2012, but three are widely expected to go that early this year, and a couple more are on the periphery.



LSU's Leonard Fournette and Florida State's Dalvin Cook headline the class, and both are expected to be selected in the first round. In fact, both could gone by the time the Lions are on the clock at 21st overall, and if either happens to remain, he'd draw a long look from Detroit.



Many analysts also give a first-round grade to Stanford's Christian McCaffery and Kamara, while Foreman is on the fringe of that discussion.



Of that mix, Foreman could make the most sense for Detroit. The reigning Doak Walker Award winner is a physical back who could provide some thunder to the lighting of Abdullah and Riddick. He rushed for 2,028 yards last year at nearly 250 pounds, and carried the ball 51 times in a 250-yard outburst against Kansas.



He's trimmed some weight for the combine, but still checks in at a burly 233 pounds and is perhaps the draft's best banger in the backfield.



"I feel like the way I'm built, just the size and speed and the way I move, I just think I'm unique," Foreman said. "I don't see anybody I run like, honestly."

Quinn drew some headlines this week when he said he wanted to meet with Oklahoma running back Joe Mixon, who might have been a first-round prospect had he not broken a woman's face with a punch in 2014, but his sidekick in the Sooners' backfield could intrigue Detroit as well.

Perine is another banger who, like Foreman, also weighed in at 233 pounds. He's a bully who once ran over Kansas for 427 yards, then rushed for 214 this past season against Texas and another 239 against Oklahoma State, even though he was sharing the backfield with Mixon.



He went on to break Billy Sims' school rushing record with 4,122 career yards.



"With all the great backs there, you don't ever think that you're going in as a freshman and going to be the top dog by the end," Perine said. "It's still surreal, and I haven't really wrapped my head around it yet. But sooner or later, that'll sink in and I'll just sit back in amazement."



Hunt is a mid-round prospect out of Toledo whom the Lions have been tracking for a while now. They've also been asking his teammates about him.



Pumphrey is a much smaller back, at 5-9 and 180 pounds, and there are questions about durability and how he'll handle the NFL grind. But the production is undeniable, leading the nation with 2,133 rushing yards last year, and breaking Ron Dayne's all-time NCAA rushing record (6,405).



"I feel like I'm kind of like a Darren Sproles, maybe not size-wise, but that's how my game is -- how I'd fit in at the next level," Pumphrey said. "A Danny Woodhead, just a guy that gets in space, like Tyreek Hill."



In other words, a Theo Riddick. And the Lions already have one of those.



But no matter what they're looking for -- whether it's another Riddick, or a jackhammer, and whether it happens in the early rounds or later rounds -- it's clear they are going to have a lot of options to consider.



"I don't remember this amount of running backs coming out," Vikings GM Rick Spielman said. "We just got out of our draft meetings, and there's a significant amount of talent at that position.



"To be honest with you, I can't remember a year where the draft class at running back is this deep."