Jahmyr Gibbs had a pretty impressive NFL debut in the Detroit Lions’ 21-20 win over the Kansas City Chiefs. The first-round running back averaged 6.0 yards per carry and also caught every ball thrown his way.
The issue for Gibbs was not touching the ball all that much. He took just seven carries and was only thrown two passes. On a night when the Lions offense was sputtering and lacking big-play potential, the relative lack of usage for Gibbs was the source of considerable consternation.
Many analysts, notably fantasy football folks, expected quite a bit more from Gibbs. Yet when Lions head coach Dan Campbell was asked about Gibbs’ usage, he indicated the game plan was closely followed in Kansas City.
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“No, I would say that was what we talked about with him,” Campbell said when asked about the apparent lack of touches for Gibbs in Week 1. “First game out of the gate, there again man, and we really didn’t want to overload any of those guys. I think it’s important you go in and let them get a feel of what it’s going to be like.
It’s the first one, let’s go in and make sure that the guys that have been around here, the guys who have taken a load for us that we’ve been in games with, that they take on a bigger load and we work these rookies in and get them a feel of it.”
Expect more touches for the speedy rookie from Alabama going forward, according to Campbell.
“Now they’ve got that one under their belt, so for Gibbs, he’ll begin to get more touches now. So, that was just the beginning last night.”