Lions' Jim Caldwell: Theo Riddick 'has all of the qualities' needed to improve

Theo Riddick showed flashes last season when Reggie Bush was sidelined with an ankle injury, but he wasn't as consistent as the Detroit Lions would have liked.

Now that Bush is out of the picture, the Lions are expecting bigger things from the third-year running back.

"I do think that he's going to improve," head coach Jim Caldwell said at the NFL's annual meetings, according to Josh Katzenstein of the Detroit News. "He has all of the qualities. If you're smart, if you're tough, if you're disciplined, if you have a great work ethic, there's improvement ahead. And he has all those things, so I think he's going to improve.

"And I think he'll force us to get him the ball a little bit more in some situations."

Caldwell wouldn't commit to how much more playing time Riddick could see in 2015. That will likely depend on what kind of running back the Lions end up drafting, if they select one at all.

"I can't tell you that he's going to carry the ball 50 more times, or I can't tell you he's going to get the ball thrown to him 30 more times until we get a chance to kind of work through this gauntlet," Caldwell said. "When we get to the end of the gauntlet, then I may be able to give you a little bit more of a view, but I'm never going to tell you we expect this guy to do this or that.

"... How much he's going to get it kind of depends on how well we move the ball, how many opportunities we get, what kind of game it is, are we playing great defense. A lot of those things kind of tie in."