The Lions drafted Jahmyr Gibbs at No. 12 overall, and it's pretty clear he'll have a major role in their backfield right away. They gave away D'Andre Swift, so it will be Gibbs and free-agent signing David Montgomery as their tandem. It won't be a shock if Gibbs emerges as the superior option, given his pedigree.
Gibbs ran a 4.36 at the combine, and teams are always going to want to get that kind of speed on the field. He's a little undersized (5-9, 199), so it makes sense for Detroit to also use Montgomery. Alabama also paired Gibbs with another back; 5-foot-11, 212-pound Jase McClellan had only slightly fewer carries (151-112) and the same number of rushing touchdowns (7).
But Gibbs is similarly sized to other speedy backs who have been successful as main ballcarriers; C.J. Spiller and Jamaal Charles were a little taller but weighed the same. And you've got to like that Alabama pedigree with running backs these days.
I know: he's a lot smaller than those other, generally successful backs, almost all of whom weigh 220-plus pounds. I'm not suggesting he's similar physically. But something about the college experience is definitely serving these players well when they get away from the elite lines and offenses they're working in at Alabama. If it were just about being big and strong, other schools would have this kind of track record.
Table shows the NFL seasons of Alabama backs selected in the first three rounds since 2010. To make it more manageable and exclude major injuries, I included only seasons where they started at least 10 games. That gave me 27 seasons from those nine running backs. Nearly half (12) of those seasons were top 10 (PPR scoring). Seven more (so 19 of 27) were top 20 campaigns. (Ingram and Drake also had top-20 seasons where they fell below the 10-start threshold I went with.)
| ALABAMA RUNNING BACKS IN THE NFL, 2010-PRESENT | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Run | No | Rec | TD | PPR | Rk |
| 2020 | Derrick Henry | 2027 | 19 | 114 | 17 | 337.1 | 3 |
| 2022 | Josh Jacobs | 1653 | 53 | 400 | 12 | 330.3 | 3 |
| 2021 | Najee Harris | 1200 | 74 | 467 | 10 | 300.7 | 3 |
| 2022 | Derrick Henry | 1538 | 33 | 398 | 13 | 308.8 | 4 |
| 2019 | Derrick Henry | 1540 | 18 | 206 | 18 | 300.6 | 5 |
| 2014 | Eddie Lacy | 1139 | 42 | 427 | 13 | 276.6 | 6 |
| 2017 | Mark Ingram | 1124 | 58 | 416 | 12 | 284.0 | 6 |
| 2013 | Eddie Lacy | 1178 | 35 | 257 | 11 | 244.5 | 8 |
| 2020 | Josh Jacobs | 1065 | 33 | 238 | 12 | 235.3 | 8 |
| 2016 | Mark Ingram | 1043 | 46 | 319 | 10 | 246.2 | 8 |
| 2012 | Trent Richardson | 950 | 51 | 367 | 12 | 254.7 | 8 |
| 2019 | Mark Ingram | 1018 | 26 | 247 | 15 | 246.5 | 10 |
| 2021 | Josh Jacobs | 872 | 54 | 348 | 9 | 230.0 | 12 |
| 2015 | Mark Ingram | 769 | 50 | 405 | 6 | 205.4 | 12 |
| 2021 | Damien Harris | 929 | 18 | 132 | 15 | 214.1 | 14 |
| 2022 | Najee Harris | 1034 | 41 | 229 | 10 | 227.5 | 14 |
| 2020 | Kenyan Drake | 955 | 25 | 137 | 10 | 194.2 | 15 |
| 2018 | Derrick Henry | 1059 | 15 | 99 | 12 | 203.5 | 16 |
| 2019 | Kenyan Drake | 817 | 50 | 345 | 8 | 216.2 | 17 |
| 2019 | Josh Jacobs | 1150 | 20 | 166 | 7 | 193.6 | 21 |
| 2015 | T.J. Yeldon | 740 | 36 | 279 | 3 | 155.9 | 28 |
| 2015 | Eddie Lacy | 758 | 20 | 188 | 5 | 144.6 | 32 |
| 2013 | Trent Richardson | 563 | 35 | 316 | 4 | 146.9 | 32 |
| 2016 | T.J. Yeldon | 465 | 50 | 312 | 2 | 139.7 | 34 |
| 2014 | Trent Richardson | 519 | 27 | 229 | 3 | 119.8 | 37 |
| 2021 | Mark Ingram | 554 | 27 | 162 | 2 | 110.6 | 49 |
| 2020 | Damien Harris | 691 | 5 | 52 | 2 | 91.3 | 53 |
Final note on size. Two of the three biggest backs on the above list (Eddie Lacy and Trent Richardson) were the ones who burned out the quickest. (A cautionary note, I suppose for those mulling acquiring Najee Harris in a dynasty league.) Derrick Henry obviously has kept things going for a number of years, but there are negatives with being too big, too.
I don't have a rookie pick anywhere that's going to enable me to select Gibbs in a draft, but I'll be interested in selecting him in redraft leagues. He looks that good to me.
--Andy Richardson