As he enters his fourth NFL season, Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell said the franchise is counting upon Jahmyr Gibbs taking on an even larger role within its offense.
“I mean he is, he’s going to be our bell cow now,” Campbell said during Lions OTAs of Gibbs. “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.”
While Campbell shared that the Lions will tailor its offense around things that it feels Gibbs does well, Gibbs’ versatility means that Detroit and new offensive coordinator Drew Petzing should really be able to call whatever they want.
Dan Campbell is all in on Jahmyr Gibbs 💪
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“He can run everything that we’ve got. 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 Saint. We ask a lot of Saint. We’re going to ask a lot of 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,” Campbell said.
Gibbs has already been a three-time Pro Bowler and his 49 touchdowns are the most any player has scored through their first three seasons in NFL history. But, Gibbs had David Montgomery as a backfield mate throughout his first three NFL seasons. That helped Detroit lessen the load upon Gibbs at times.
Montgomery’s presence helped Gibbs register just 56 and 57 percent of the Lions’ snaps during his first two seasons. That number leapt to a career-high 67 percent of Detroit’s offensive snaps last season.
The 5-foot-9, 202-pound running back 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).
The Lions inked former Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco this offseason, and he will be expected to help spell Gibbs like Montgomery did and to hopefully rediscover some of the production from Pacheco’s first two NFL seasons in Kansas City.
Gibbs insists he’s ready to shoulder the load, though.
“It’s not nothing I’m not used to,” Gibbs said. “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.”
Petzing was asked about Gibbs morphing into more of Detroit’s bell cow back and where he sees the most room for growth in Gibbs’ role.
“I think it can change as we go. I think a lot of it is going to be dictated by what we’re good at as a unit, you know, where are we the best, where are we the most effective, who are we playing and how do we utilize his skill set to build on that? I mean, he does so many things at a high level that I don’t think there’s necessarily a ceiling or a cap on what that could look like, but I think that’s going to be dictated a lot by the people around him and how the pieces all fit together,” Petzing said.
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This article originally appeared on Lions Wire: Detroit Lions counting upon Jahmyr Gibbs morphing into bell cow RB
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