One area where the Detroit Lions really upgraded from 2022 to 2023 was at the running back position—despite what Gregg Rosenthal thought during the NFL Draft.
“So, I think just the recognition of the little things all adding up and paying big dividends for us in offense, that’s really the point of it,” offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said in June of last year, well after the Lions let Jamaal Williams walk in free agency and traded D’Andre Swift during the draft. “We will still push the envelope. We’ll still be innovative and creative on offense, don’t get me wrong. But I just came away saying, ‘Shoot man, we left a lot of meat on the bone in a lot of ways.’”
Detroit’s solution to getting the most out of those plays was upgrading their personnel, and Detroit did just that when they signed David Montgomery in free agency and drafted Jahmyr Gibbs with the No. 12 pick. The two combined to be a dynamic force out of the backfield, racking up 1,960 rushing yards on just 401 carries (4.9 yards per carry), and elevating Detroit’s rush EPA to 6th (-0.014) in 2023.
Many outsiders grew impatient with Gibbs’ usage early on (read: fantasy football pundits), but his emergence was well worth the wait. By nearly any metric, Gibbs was a top-10 running back during his rookie season. For running backs with at least 105 carries, Gibbs ranked third in yards per carry (5.2), t-sixth in rushes of 10+ yards (27), eighth in rushing touchdowns (10), and t-ninth in yards after contact per attempt (3.12).
But what had so many people moving Gibbs up boards during the pre-draft process were the skills he brought to the table as a receiver, and that’s something general manager Brad Holmes reiterated time and time again after making him the Lions’ top pick last year.
“He was just different,” Holmes said about Gibbs in an offseason interview with Peter Schrager last July. “And going through that process, I was like, ‘Man, how many guys have I seen that were like equally as effective,’ you know?
“When I first got with the Rams in 2003, Marshall Faulk was still there, and I was a huge Marshall Faulk guy. Just coming in and just kind of seeing what he does in both phases, and then just from a scouting standpoint, when Christian McCaffrey came out, he was like the last guy I was like, ‘Holy cow, like this guy can run routes like a slot receiver, but also run it.’ So you start getting reminders of, you know, some of those players. I’m not sitting here saying that Jahmyr Gibbs is those players, but, you know, just a special weapon like that, we have a lot of excitement and optimism.”
So today’s Question of the Day is...
What are your expectations for Jahmyr Gibbs in 2024?
Although Gibbs was outstanding as a runner out of the backfield, his body of work as a receiver left a lot to be desired—and it wasn’t for a lack of trying. Gibbs saw 69 targets in 15 games last year (t-seventh among running backs), but whereas he was uber-efficient as a runner, his receiving production didn’t match the preseason hype. His 52 catches was t-ninth among backs, but his 6.1 yards per reception ranked t-40th alongside guys like James Conner, Kenneth Gainwell, and Ezekiel Elliott. His yards per route run (0.97) ranked 31st—just ahead of Ameer Abdullah (0.92)—and his yards after catch per reception (6.3) ranked 48th.
For someone touted as a “positionless” weapon, only 20.9 percent of his receiving snaps came with him lined up either out wide or in the slot—during his final collegiate season at Alabama, Gibbs lined up in those spots 26.3 percent of the time. Gibbs’ snap percentage either out wide or in the slot his rookie year put him behind the likes of Kenneth Walker III (21.5%), Bijan Robinson (29.7%), and Raheem Mostert (27.2%) in 2023, so here’s hoping an offseason of film review has the Lions ready to utilize Gibbs’ ability as a route runner to take this offense to yet another level.
While the offense will undoubtedly continue to strive for a balance between the ground and air—and both Montgomery and Gibbs will be used in both respects—the Lions’ utilization of Gibbs as a receiver must become more efficient, and there’s plenty of reason to believe Ben Johnson and Co. will get that figured out.
