Do Lions have 1,000-yard rusher in their backfield? Do they need one?

The Detroit Lions haven't had a 1,000-yard rusher since Reggie Bush barely hit the milestone (with 1,006 yards) in 2013.

Before that, Kevin Jones in 2004 was the last player to top 1,000 yards rushing for a Lions team that still hasn't found an adequate replacement for Barry Sanders.

And while the Lions envision having a backfield by committee this year, with no fewer than four players in the mix for touches, running backs coach David Walker said there is a 1,000-yard back (or two) in their midst.

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"I think we got guys if the situation (presents itself)," Walker said. "If you handed the ball to Ameer 250 times, he’s going to get you 1,000 yards. So we’ll just see if we get there."

The Lions are banking on a bounce back season from Ameer Abdullah this fall to help lift their 2016 30th-ranked rushing attack back to a level of respectability.

Abdullah played just six quarters last fall before suffering a foot injury that required Lisfranc surgery, but he showed in brief flashes the ability to be a difference-making running back.

In 18 carries last year, Abdullah totaled 101 yards rushing.

"Ameer gives us a chance to have some big plays within the scope of the offense, which is good," Walker said. "He’s a guy where you don’t have to block them all and he can make a guy miss or a couple guys miss because of his ability. So that’s a nice luxury to have. And at times last year when both him and Theo (Riddick) were out of the lineup, although Dwayne (Washington) is productive and Zach (Zenner) is productive in their styles, those guys really don’t give you a chance for a plus-50-yard run at times.

"So the consistency of Ameer and Theo, and then the potential big-play ability of both of those guys will greatly help us on offense this year."

Both Abdullah and Riddick are returning from season-ending surgeries - Riddick underwent double-wrist surgery and was limited to 10 games last year - and the Lions have worked them cautiously back into the mix this summer.

Riddick has spent all of training camp practicing in a red no-contact jersey, though he told the Free Press his wrists are "feeling good" and he has had no setbacks in his recovery.

Abdullah, who spent training camp last year in a red jersey as he returned from shoulder surgery, is a full-go in practice this summer, though the Lions largely held him out of team drills in their first padded practice of the season Tuesday.

"It was nice to have Ameer all through OTAs and the summer because really he hadn’t practiced since Week 2 of last year, and to get him back and going he kind of really hasn’t missed a step," Walker said. "And Theo’s been able to put in good work, so that’s a plus for the backfield, it’s a plus for our team."

Walker confirmed the widely held belief that Abdullah, a second-round pick out of Nebraska in 2015, will be the Lions' featured back this fall as long as he stays healthy.

"Ameer’s our guy," Walker said. "Theo has his role, and then the other guys, they got to kind of fit where they fit and that’s how we’ll go."

That doesn't mean, however, that Abdullah is a lock for 250 carries and the 1,000 yards rushing that goes along with it.

Just 11 backs had 250 or more carries last year, and the Lions have enough complementary pieces that they won't overuse a back who has undergone two significant surgeries in the past 19 months.

Riddick, who has caught 133 passes the past two years, is one of the best receiving backs in the NFL. Zenner had productive games against the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers late last season. And Walker said second-year pro Washington has "done a 180" after inconsistent play landed him on the bench as a rookie.

For his part, Abdullah said he doesn't have any yardage goals this year, and that his injury taught him a valuable lesson about taking things day by day.

"I don’t really go into a season and say I need to do this because when you become more result-oriented you forget about the process," Abdullah said. "Everything’s about the process when you come out here. It’s about making the right reads. Why you make the right reads, you got to take the right steps, you got to have the right aiming points. There’s so much that goes into statistical goals that a lot of people, no offense to the media, doesn’t understand, that we got to focus on the process more than the outcome. So that’s my goal is the process."

Walker said he's not concerned about ending the Lions' 1,000-yard-less streak, either. The bigger goal, he said, is for the Lions to average 4.2 yards per carry as a team.

If that happens, Walker said Abdullah and the rest of the backs will have numbers to be proud of.

"We did a good job of having a lot of extended drives last year, and some of the reasons you have to have extended drives is you don’t have enough big plays, and we need to make some big plays in the offense and the run game," Walker said. "We were kind of lacking that a little bit last year. And like I said, 25 (Riddick) and 21 (Abdullah) have shown consistently that they have a chance to turn a 2-yard run into a 15-yard run like that so that’s just a nice luxury to have back in the offense."

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