What Sione Vaki’s coach said about the offensive growth the Detroit Lions rookie has shown

Sione Vaki gave his head coach a lesson on just how much he is capable of during the team’s 24-23 preseason win over the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday.

Vaki, the dual-way Detroit Lions rookie who starred as a safety at the University of Utah but has moved over to running back in Detroit, continued to show what he can do offensively for the Lions.

He finished the game against the Chiefs with 22 rushing yards on six carries and had four catches for 60 yards.

“I would say it is early right now to say ‘Here is what we are going to do for him.’ I would say the more you learn about a player and the faster you can figure out what they can do, the better off it is for everybody,” Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell told reporters, according to NFL.com .

Vaki’s four catches all came on the same drive on dump-down passes on a possession that started just before the two-minute warning in the first half and resulted in a short field goal on the final play of the half.

The drive included back-to-back catches of 20 and 17 yards for Vaki, with the former catch converting a third-and-7 at the Detroit 15 and keeping the drive alive.

“We already felt like this kid is going to have the ability to play special teams. Well, now it is like, can we use him on offense? He is a lot further along in that part of the game than carrying the football,” Campbell said.

“A lot of that is really because he hasn’t done it: taking the carries, the vision of the play, the cuts, the reads and all of that, but in the pass game, I thought he stepped up. He is another guy that is in that boat. The two-minute drive at the end of the (half), wow, that was huge.”

That drive showcased Vaki’s resilience and drive, the Lions coach said.

“He was making a play and he was tired and he keeps going and keeps pushing himself through it. ... You felt growth from him,” Campbell said.

Vaki, who had a pair of carries for 11 yards on a touchdown drive earlier in the second quarter, also returned a kickoff for 19 yards and had a special teams tackle.

This came one week after Vaki one was of the few bright spots for Detroit in a 14-3 preseason-opening loss to the New York Giants.

In that game, he had four carries for 29 yards.

“He’s amazing,” Detroit backup quarterback Hendon Hooker said of Vaki, per the team’s website . “And very smart as well to be a young guy coming in and making plays. You saw some different shifty moves, too. It’s very cool to see his growth.”