Of all the picks in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft, arguably none was more surprising than the Detroit Lions selecting former Georgia Tech and Alabama running back Jahmyr Gibbs at No. 12 overall. Not that Gibbs didn’t deserve to go that high, but because of the devaluation of the RB position as well as the Lions’ depth at the RB position it was a bit surprising of a move.
Detroit was already rostering D’Andre Swift and David Montgomery which seemed like a really great one-two punch, but Lions head coach Dan Campbell saw something special in Gibbs. Gibbs led the Tide’s rushing attack in 2022 but is his ability as a receiver out of the backfield that the NFL scouts were big fans of. In his lone season in Tuscaloosa, Gibbs led all Alabama players with 44 receptions and a lot of early reports out of the Lions training camp suggest that Gibbs will have a very versatile role in the offense.
Gibbs’s ability to be a feature back as well as an elite pass catcher makes him a gem for fantasy owners entering the 2023 season according to Jon Macri, a data analyst and fantasy football specialist for Pro Football Focus. Macri thinks that Gibbs could even be a league winner as he says, “He could find himself on a path to 20 PPR points per game in no time.”
The Lions open their season against the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday night football in one of the most exciting matchups of week one. It will also be the first time we get to see Gibbs’s versatility really get tested out.
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