By almost all accounts, Jahmyr Gibbs’ debut season was a success. He concluded the season with 1,216 scrimmage yards and 11 touchdowns. That places them 20th and 15th among all skill position players, respectively. And when teamed with literal running mate David Montgomery, the Detroit Lions generated a top-five rushing offense by practically every category. However, as is typically the case in the NFL, if you don’t improve, you will fall behind. The Lions intend to enhance Gibbs’ game in Year 2, with running backs coach Scottie Montgomery describing it as a two-part strategy for the 22-year-old back.
First, play at a high level for the entire season. Gibbs has all the fundamentals down, now it’s time to go out there and do it week in and week out.
“The next step, consistency, 17 games,” Scottie Montgomery said. “We’ve got to see game 1, game 2, game 3, game 4. … We’re past the point now where we’re, you know, he’s coming along, he understands this part or protection.”
Last year, it took a while to get going. In his first four games, he averaged just 45 rushing yards per game and didn’t find the end zone. But when David Montgomery went down with an injury, it forced Gibbs into the starting lineup, and we saw the rookie grow up quickly.
When he was forced into a starter role and all the issues that comes with every-down football, and the stress of dealing with all the coaches and every single play and getting prepared for practice, it’s a lot different,” Scottie Montgomery said. “So that experience is a real experience. And unless you’ve lived it, you don’t quite understand it. It’s a little bit different. of preparing to go in as the number one back versus you’re just happening to be the back monster once the game is going on. So a lot of that, it was it was good for him.”
The other aspect of Gibbs’ game they’re hoping to develop is as a receiver. Last year, the Lions liked what they saw from Gibbs as a target out of the backfield, but Montgomery is hoping to see improvement in his route running when lined up as a receiver.
“Now what we need him to do from a passing game standpoint is go to the next level,” Montgomery said. “I do think there’s a certain difference between route running from the backfield and being a really, really efficient and efficient check down versus it is to be a great route runner, a guy that can run all types of choice. We know we’ve seen him do those things. But now can you go into the slot and a little bit more down the field? Some intermediate stuff? Can we continue to grow him there? And that’s what we’re trying to do.”
You may remember when general manager Brad Holmes drafted Gibbs, he defended this selection against “positional value” arguments by saying they viewed him more as a “weapon” than as a “running back.” We only really saw the tip of the iceberg when it came to Gibbs’ receiving potential during his rookie season. His 52 receptions did rank 11th among all running backs, but his 316 receiving yards ranked 16th. That’s despite a whopping 100 of his 681 offensive snaps coming lined up out wide or in the slot (14.7% of the time). For comparison’s sake, only Bijan Robinson (24.0%), Christian McCaffrey (17.7%), and Tyjae Spears (16.8%) saw a higher percentage of snaps lined up as a WR (min. 300 receiving yards).
However, Gibbs may have more opportunity to impact the offense this season. Detroit’s offense was stacked in 2023, with six different players averaging more than 20 receiving yards per game. And, while the most of those players will return this season, offensive coordinator Ben Johnson mentioned Gibbs as someone who could make up for the departure of receiver Josh Reynolds to free agency. Regardless, the Lions clearly believe Gibbs has more promise as a receiver. And, while we haven’t seen him during OTAs because he has been sidelined during open sessions, don’t be surprised if we see a lot of Gibbs at receiver during training camp.
