It's a new era for the Detroit Lions and their fans. After 12 straight seasons with Matthew Stafford as the quarterback and only three playoff games, the team finally decided to move on. The Stafford era will go down as a disappointment, but the rebuild is underway in Detroit and there may be some building blocks here for the future. The first is quarterback Jared Goff. He's unlikely to be the future quarterback of the Lions, but there's still a chance he can turn his career around. The second is coach Dan Campbell. Good luck there. The third and one of the most important entering this season is second-year running back D'Andre Swift.

Lions X Factor: D'Andre Swift

Swift is entering the 2021 season as the Lions lead back and the expectation is that he will get a ton of work. This is all coming off a 2020 season where Swift played in 13 games but only saw 8.8 rushing attempts per game. In those attempts, Swift looked pretty solid, averaging 4.6 yards per attempt and scoring eight touchdowns. Not bad for a rookie, but it looks like Swift is switching from part-time to nearly a bell-cow role. If he can pull that off and continue to average around 4.6 yards, then the Lions might have a sliver of hope.

Expectations for Detroit as a whole are not good. The team didn't get better this offseason and none of the teams in the division are anything close to a free win. Well, except the Lions. Despite that, we've seen crazier things happen and if there's one thing Dan Campbell might be able to do, it's motivate a team to an extra win or two. Mix a coach like him with a bad quarterback and a very promising running back and what does that get you? Probably around 300 rushing attempts with Swift if he stays healthy.

It could be argued that Jared Goff is the X factor for this team, but we all know what Goff will give you. If the roster around him is good, then he can win nine games. If it's bad, then he will probably win five games. The ceiling is low, but the floor is lower with a guy like Goff. He's not a game-changer in really any way, so having him as the X factor doesn't make much sense.

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D'Andre Swift, on the other hand, has the potential to be someone who takes over games all by himself. It's basically the Vikings' approach to offense except replace Kirk Cousins with Goff and replace Dalvin Cook with Swift. That's the Lions' offense. Can D'Andre Swift be similar to Dalvin Cook? That might be what is necessary if the Lions want to have a chance at nine wins. Low expectations and even lower chances of it actually happening.

The quarterback is bad, the defense is still awful, the head coach will be fun to watch in all the wrong ways, but the running back has a chance to be special. Rebuilds start with a spark, and D'Andre has a small chance to be the spark that brings the Lions to wild card contention.