Can Jahmyr Gibbs Finally Become the Featured Back Detroit Has Been Waiting For?

Listen, I have been watching football long enough to know that opportunity in the National Football League is the most precious commodity there is. It does not matter how talented you are, how impressive your athletic profile might look on a combine field, or how perfect your skill set appears to be in a vacuum. What matters is volume. What matters is touches. What matters is being the guy who gets to write his own story instead of waiting for someone else's narrative to end so he can get his chance.

That is exactly where Jahmyr Gibbs finds himself as we head into what could be a transformative season for the Detroit Lions' dynamic running back. For three years, Gibbs has been a secondary character in someone else's story. First with the Arizona Cardinals, where he was drafted in the second round in 2023, and then with the Lions, where he has had to share carries and the offensive identity with David Montgomery. But now, with Montgomery having departed to Houston and the Lions' offense potentially reshaping itself around what Gibbs can do, we are looking at a completely different scenario. We are looking at opportunity. Real opportunity. The kind that separates good players from great ones.

To understand what Gibbs could become, we first need to understand what he has already shown us. In his NFL tenure, Gibbs has demonstrated a rare combination of attributes that do not always go together. He possesses legitimate elite-level speed and lateral agility for the position. His shuttle time at the combine, that crucial measure of how quickly a back can change direction, was the kind of number you see from receivers and corner backs, not from guys who weigh two hundred and fifteen pounds. That is not a coincidence. That is a foundational element of who Gibbs is as a player.

But here is what has been fascinating about Gibbs' development in Detroit. Under Ben Johnson's now departed playfulness with the offense, and with the Lions' commitment to a modern passing attack, Gibbs has shown that he can be far more than just a home run hitter on the perimeter. His receiving numbers have been impressive. He has a natural ability to create separation from linebackers in space. He understands leverage and angles. When the ball is in his hands in the pass game, you can see the wheels turn, the vision process, the understanding of how to navigate through traffic. These are not things you can teach. These are things a player either has or does not have.

What Gibbs has lacked, however, is volume. In his three seasons before 2024, he never carried more than one hundred and thirty-five times in a season. He never had more than one hundred and thirty-four receiving touches. These are complementary numbers. These are splitting carries, making the most of limited opportunities kind of numbers. Meanwhile, David Montgomery, a talented and productive player in his own right, was the one getting the lion's share of the workload in Detroit. The Lions were winning with Montgomery. The offensive system was built with Montgomery as a primary option. There was no reason to change course, even if Gibbs was flashing exceptional talent in limited action.

Now that changes. Montgomery is gone. The Lions' front office has made a decision, either by default or by design, to give Gibbs the opportunity to be a featured back. This is the kind of situation that reminds me of when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers finally decided to give Doug Martin a full workload after years of committee football. Suddenly, a talented player who had been making the most of limited opportunities got a chance to show what he could do with real volume. The results can be transformative.

There are historical precedents that are worth examining here. When we think about running backs who have broken through into stardom, many of them had to wait for their moment. The position is one where opportunity and talent have to align perfectly. You can have all the ability in the world, but if you are getting eight carries a game, you cannot establish yourself as a threat. You cannot impose your will on a defense. You cannot get into a rhythm where you are wearing down defensive line. You cannot force an offense to respect your run game enough that it opens up the passing attack. These are things that only happen when a player gets the volume that allows them to do them.

Looking at Gibbs' combine profile and what we know about how modern offenses work, he fits perfectly into what the Lions want to do. His receiving skills mean that he can line him up in various formations. He can split him wide. He can move him around the formation. He is not a traditional north and south thumper. He is a back designed for space and creativity, which aligns beautifully with how Detroit wants to operate their offense under new offensive coordinator Ben Johnson's successor. The Lions have shown a willingness to build their passing attack around skill players who can operate in space. Gibbs is exactly that kind of player.

The question, of course, is whether Gibbs can stay healthy. Durability is always a concern when you are talking about moving a player from a complementary role to a featured role. The wear and tear of being a true bell cow is significant. A back who is getting twenty-five carries a game and ten targets a game is taking real hits. The injury history for such a player is something that teams have to evaluate carefully. Gibbs has played in every meaningful game opportunity that has come his way, but there is a difference between being a durable complementary player and being a durable featured player. The volume changes the calculus.

What we can expect from Gibbs in 2024 and beyond is an opportunity to finally answer the question of just how good he can be. If he gets the volume, if he gets the touches, if he gets the carries, then he gets the chance to show whether he is a talented reserve back or a genuine star. That is not a small thing. That is not a minor thing. That is everything for a player at this stage of his career. The Lions are essentially saying, "We believe in you enough that we are betting our running back group on you." That is an endorsement that comes with both tremendous opportunity and tremendous pressure.

The verdict here is straightforward: if health holds, Jahmyr Gibbs is poised for a significant year in 2024. He has the talent. He has the skill set. He has the athletic profile. What he has never had is the opportunity to be the guy. Now, finally, he is going to get that chance. Whether he makes the most of it will define the next phase of his career.