Jahmyr Gibbs has established himself as one of the top running backs in the NFL over the course of his first three seasons in the league. His 49 touchdowns are the most any player has scored through their first three seasons in NFL history.
He's the first player in franchise history and only the eighth player in NFL history to produce at least 1,800 scrimmage yards and 18 scrimmage touchdowns in back-to-back seasons.
Those numbers are even more impressive given Gibbs shared the backfield for the most of his first three seasons with veteran David Montgomery. He played a career-high 67 percent of Detroit's offensive snaps last season but registered 56 and 57 percent of the snaps his first two seasons.
After Montgomery was traded to Houston this offseason, Gibbs enters a season where he's expected to carry a much bigger load in Detroit's backfield.
"I mean he is, he's going to be our bell cow now," Lions head coach Dan Campbell said Thursday of his three-time Pro Bowl running back. "He really became more of that last year, but we're going to hang our hat on him quite a bit. We're going to do a lot of things we feel like he does well."
Gibbs had 182 carries as a rookie in 2023, 250 carries in 2024 and 243 last season, which ranked just 11th most among NFL running backs, 80 behind NFL leader Jonathan Taylor (323).
"It's not nothing I'm not used to," Gibbs said after Detroit's second open OTA practice of his expected role. "Growing up, I've always been the person that's always having those carries and stuff like that, so I'm not looking at it any different than any other year."
Gibbs has rushed for at least 1,200 yards and 13 touchdowns in each of the last two seasons. Last year we saw a big jump in his usage in the pass game as he caught a career-high 77 passes after recording 52 receptions in each of his first two seasons. He's expected to be a big part of Detroit's offensive plans in both the run and pass games this season.
The Lions brought in veteran Isiah Pacheco to be the No. 2 in Detroit behind Gibbs. The team is also excited to see how third-year running back Sione Vaki develops.
But make no mistake, it's the Gibbs show in Detroit's backfield.
"He can run everything that we've got," Campbell said of Gibbs. "He can run every scheme that anybody's ever run. He's not just an outside runner. He is not just a space runner. He can create his own space in the middle. And some of his biggest runs have been gap scheme right down the pipe where he's had patience and found it and guys blocked it up well.
"So, we're going to ask a lot of him, just like we do (Amon-Ra St. Brown) Saint, we ask a lot of Saint, we're going to ask a lot of (Jameson Williams) Jaymo, we're going to ask a lot of (Sam) LaPorta. We expect him to have a big year for us. We're going to put a lot on his plate in the run and pass game."
