In his own words, Jahmyr Gibbs is here to make "an already great offense even more dominant." In the words of the general manager who drafted him 12th overall, "We think he’s going to bring another dimension to our offense. As good as we were offensively last year, I think it’s going to be even better this year."
Brad Holmes said the Lions had "true first-round-talent" grades on just 14 players in this year's draft, and at one point only nine or 10. But Gibbs was always one of them. (So was Jack Campbell, for the record.) So when the Lions were on the clock at 12, Holmes said he looked at Dan Campbell like, "Let’s just get who the hell we want and get the hell out of there." They got out of there with Gibbs.
"I was sitting there thinking, nobody’s going to do this except us and then after we picked him I heard all these other general managers, like, 'I’m glad you picked him there because he wasn’t going to make it,'" Holmes said in a wide-ranging interview with NFL Network's Peter Schrager.
When Holmes went to the Alabama-Texas game early last season, he said he was "tipped off" about Gibbs shortly before kickoff. The 'Bama running back, who had transferred rather quietly from Georgia Tech, proceeded to catch nine passes for 74 yards and a touchdown in his team's comeback win. From that point on, Holmes was hooked: "He was just different."
"Going through the (draft) process, I was like, man, how many guys have I seen that were equally effective (as running backs and receivers) … Just from a scouting standpoint, when Christian McCaffrey came out, he was the last guy where I was like, holy cow, this guy can run routes like a slot receiver, but also run it," said Holmes.
If you're trying to project Gibbs' workload this season, McCaffrey is a good place to start. The 8th overall pick in 2017, McCaffrey got almost as many targets (113) as carries (117) as a rookie. The Panthers had a true between-the-tackles runner in Jonathan Stewart (198 carries), which allowed them to utilize McCaffrey much like the Lions figure to use Gibbs in conjunction with David Montgomery.
"When you talk about running backs going in the first round and all that stuff, I always say, if he’s a weapon, then forget the RB position," said Holmes. "We thought he was a multiphase, elite, explosive position-less weapon. He’s a special player."
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Another rookie parallel for Gibbs could be Alvin Kamara. One of the NFL's premier pass-catching backs, Kamara joined a Saints team in 2017 that had a diverse offense under Sean Payton and a clear bell-cow back in Mark Ingram, who logged 230 carries that year. (Montgomery's four-year average in the NFL? 229.) That allowed New Orleans, with Campbell as assistant head coach, to use Kamara all over the field. He wound up with 120 carries to 100 targets.
McCaffrey led the Panthers in receiving as a rookie. Kamara finished second on the Saints. Both teams finished 11-5. 11 wins is very much in play this year for the Lions, who are favored to win the NFC North. Their offense, which ranked fourth in the NFL last season, is the biggest reason why. As good as Detroit's backfield was with D'Andre Swift and Jamaal Williams, Holmes views Gibbs and Montgomery as an upgrade.
"And that’s no knock on the contributions those other two guys gave us, because Swift is a dynamic player and Jamaal was a great leader for us and had a great season," said Holmes. "But we do think that Montgomery and Jamaal are different backs. Montgomery does a little bit more in the passing game. And being able to add Gibbs, look, he’s a home run hitter as a running back. That’s the easy part. But what he does as a receiver, he runs routes like a receiver and his hands …"
No one's more excited to deploy Gibbs this season than Ben Johnson. The Lions offensive coordinator, who turned down potential head coaching jobs to tend to unfinished business in Detroit, was in his office drawing up plays as soon as Gibbs was drafted. And when Gibbs hit the field this spring for OTA's and minicamp, he was lining up basically everywhere but under center. If this is Johnson's last year with the Lions, expect him to leave with a bang.
"Ben going into his second year as OC, I think last year he showed everybody, I can do this, I’m legit. But having that experience under his belt, having Jared (Goff) with him going into year two and then all of the other components that we added in free agency and the draft, that’s why I feel we’re going to be better offensively," said Holmes.
“They have great playmakers on the team already," Gibbs said on draft night. "I just think I could bring another element to the team and we could be the best offense in the league."
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