Sione Vaki was one of the more interesting draft picks from the Detroit Lions’ 2024 class. Mostly a safety at Utah, Lions general manager Brad Holmes saw a ton of potential in Vaki’s offensive skill set when he had to fill in as an emergency running back in college. Thinking he could turn those 42 college rushing attempts into a potential full-time role in the NFL, Holmes jumped up a round in the draft to select Vaki in the fourth round.
But through two seasons, Vaki’s growth as a running back has
been severely stunted. Could 2026 be the year Vaki starts to put it together? Does his contributions on special teams make the pick worth it anyways? Let’s take a closer look in our latest player profile series in our 2026 Lions season preview.
Previous season previews: RB Jahmyr Gibbs, OT Penei Sewell
Sione Vaki season preview
Expectations heading into 2025
With Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery coming off career years, there wasn’t a ton of opportunity waiting for Vaki on offense in 2025. That said, the coaching staff was still very optimistic he could warrant some situational work if he continues his development.
“We feel like just athletically, size-wise, explosiveness, power, there’s versatility in what he could do,” Campbell said last training camp. “He might be able to play multiple roles, multiple positions.”
Unfortunately, Vaki missed the entire spring program last year, and missed much of training camp with a hamstring injury that lingered for months. He was just getting healthy to start the season, but the time missed to develop his offensive skills sapped some expectations for 2025.
Actual Role in 2025
11 games (0 starts) — 1 snap on offense, 187 snaps on special teams
PFF offense grade: N/A
PFF special teams grade: 75.4 (82nd out of 371 players with at least 150 snaps)
Stats: 1 rush, 4 yards — 10 special teams tackles
Unfortunately, Vaki suffered a setback in his hamstring recovery and also dealt with a groin injury. Those two caused him to miss six of the first seven games of the season.
When he returned, he basically had no offensive role, but was heavily featured on special teams. He was part of the return team on kickoffs until he suffered a broken thumb midway through the season.
Still, Vaki stayed on the field for 11 games last year and averaged a very healthy 17 special teams snaps per game. In that aspect of his game, he remains in very, very high regard.
“Vaki has really had a great year for us,” special teams coordinator Dave Fipp said in January. “And I mean he’s just a unique athlete. Explosive, powerful, strong, he’s an offender technically. I know he played both in college but his ability to make tackles and play in coverage is exceptional for that position of running back. And so, he’s been a great player for us this season. I think he’s had a really good year.”
Outlook for 2026
The good news for Vaki is that he appears to be healthy this year. He participated in Detroit’s OTAs and minicamp this year, and got a good amount of work with the second and third teams.
The bad news is that coaches have openly said he’s still pretty green in terms of his development at running back due to all of the injuries.
“The running back position is a little raw,” coach Dan Campbell said this month. “Yes, he has been in there, he did a little bit in college, this is year three, but he hasn’t played running back, not that much, and a lot of it is (due to) injury.”
It’s unclear how much opportunity there will be for Vaki to find a role on offense, as well. Jahmyr Gibbs is expected to assume a workhorse back role, and Detroit replaced Montgomery with Isiah Pacheco. While Pacheco has dealt with injuries of his own, he’s the pretty clear No. 2 back in this city given some of his successes with the Chiefs over the past four years.
But the Lions are taking Vaki’s development seriously. Campbell still sees the potential in him given his incredible athletic profile, and running backs coach Tashard Choice has been on top of him trying to expedite the process.
“I can get on Vaki all day. I’m gonna probably get on him the most,” Choice said during minicamp this year. “But he never complains, gets back on the field, does what he’s supposed to do, and he works his tail off. And so, when you got people like him that works hard, and then he wants to get better, that’s the easy part for (me). It’s easy to be a coach when you have guys like that, so I gotta continue to push his envelope, but from me to him, man, it’s been remarkable to see him work through the injuries, get back this year, and really work at his craft. It’s been good for him.”
With Craig Reynolds gone, the RB3 job is wide open for Vaki to take. But he’ll have to fight off a guy like Jacob Saylors, who caught on late with the team, was a strong special teamer, and even saw a tad more time on offense (eight total snaps) than Vaki.
The key for him will be to stay healthy all of training camp, get in the developmental work he’s so desperately needed, and turn that work ethic into actual, legitimate progress.
Admittedly, the RB3 offensive role may be pretty small this year if Gibbs and Pacheco stay healthy. Last year, Reynolds, Vaki, and Saylors combined for just 13 total offensive snaps, but we’ve also seen Vaki be a weapon with the ball in his hands as a receiver, and his physical background lends itself well to pass protection. I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibilities for Vaki to grow into a third-down role on offense and eventually be a decent injury replacement as well.
“He is another guy where our eyes are open,” Campbell said. “If we feel like the protections, that is something he can do and then he can do a few things out of the backfield and can he do a couple of these jobs, then he proves that, then yeah. Listen, we want to move the football and we want to win, so if he helps us do that, we are going to find a way to put him on the field.”
For now, Vaki’s roster spot doesn’t appear to be in danger. He’s too valuable of a special teamer for Detroit to let him walk. But there’s now the chance and opportunity for him to grow this offseason and live up to some of the expectations Holmes had for him when he was drafted just over three years ago.
