Eagles bring D’Andre Swift home, trading with the Lions to add an offensive weapon at running back

D’Andre Swift is home-bound.

The Eagles acquired the talented running back and Philadelphia native from the Detroit Lions in exchange for a 2025 fourth-round pick. The two teams also swapped 2023 seventh-round picks.

Swift, a former St. Joseph’s Prep star who attended the University of Georgia, will provide the offense with a dynamic spark in the backfield. The Eagles boast a strong existing relationship with Swift, who spent his childhood and high school days attending workouts at the NovaCare Complex.

“We’re really excited about the opportunity to get Swift, to bring him back to Philly,” general manager Howie Roseman said. “He’s somebody we’ve known for a long time. We know what type of player he was watching him through college...We feel like we really know who he is, [vice president of security] Dom DiSandro has known him and his family for a long time.

“It’s a cool story of a local kid that comes home.”

Swift has rushed for 1,680 yards, averaging 4.6 yard per carry, with 18 rushing touchdowns over 40 career games (16 starts) in Detroit. He’s also a proven pass catcher; Swift has 156 receptions for 1,198 receiving yards and seven touchdowns. He has fumbled just six times in his career, including just once this past season.

This marks the second consecutive year that Roseman has traded for an offensive playmaker during the draft. About one year ago, the Eagles acquired wide receiver A.J. Brown from the Tennessee Titans. The team subsequently signed Brown to a four-year extension worth $100 million, and he set the franchise record for most receiving yards (1,496) in his first season with the Eagles.

The Eagles are hoping for similar play-making ability from Swift, 24, who s entering the fourth and final year of his rookie deal. He joins a running back room featuring third-year Kenneth Gainwell, free-agent addition Rashaad Penny, veteran Boston Scott, Trey Sermon, and Kennedy Brooks. The group is led by running backs/assistant head coach Jemal Singelton and offensive line coach/run game coordinator Jeff Stoutland.

“He had some unbelivable runs against us last year,” coach Nick Sirianni said of Swift. “He has the ability to make you miss and accelerate through the hole, which will serve us well in some of the draws and run-pass-options that we run. In the passing game, he’s a dynamic playmaker that’s done some things that we’ve done with guys in the past with some of the different routes he runs. He has a great ability to read defenses out of the backfield, to separate in tight coverage, and he has really good hands.”

» READ MORE: Detroit Lions’ D’Andre Swift, a Philly native, is on the path to stardom

Swift will have an immediate opportunity to start after the Eagles lost 1,000-yard rusher Miles Sanders to the Carolina Panthers in free agency. The Eagles remain bullish on Gainwell and they’re hopeful the oft-injured Penny can stay healthy and explosive, but Swift is a proven two-way tailback entering a contract year.

“We went into this draft feeling really good about our running back room,” Roseman said. “We really like the guys that we have on the roster. It’s a talented group. It wasn’t a position we were looking to actively looking to upgrade. But at the same time, we’re always looking for opportunities to improve the team.”

Swift’s tenure in Detroit concludes shortly after the Lions drafted running back Jahmyr Gibbs in the first round (No. 12). The Lions also signed former Chicago Bears tailback David Montgomery to a three-year deal worth $18 million.

Before Swift was selected in the second round (No. 35) of the 2020 NFL draft, he told The Inquirer: “[Philadelphia] is where I get my mentality from, I can’t help it. Tough mindset, I’m a gritty guy. I compete, I love to compete, never back down from a challenge. Everything Philly, that’s in me. That’s why I play the game the way I play it.”