The Lions raised some eyebrows when they took running back Jahmyr Gibbs with the 12th overall pick of this year’s draft and General Manager Brad Holmes might raise a few more with the names he dropped while discussing what Gibbs can do in the team’s offense.
During an appearance on The Season with Peter Schrager podcast, Holmes said he believes the Lions will “be better offensively” after bringing in Gibbs and David Montgomery as running backs in place of Jamaal Williams and D’Andre Swift. He also said he thinks that Gibbs can make a massive impact as both a runner and a receiver once he gets on the field this fall and compared him to a couple of prolific running backs who came into the league ahead of him.
“When I first got with the Rams in 2003, Marshall Faulk was still there, and I was a huge Marshall Faulk guy -- just kind of seeing what he does in both phases,” Holmes said. “And just from a scouting standpoint, when Christian McCaffrey came out, he was the last guy that I was like, ‘Holy cow, this guy can run routes like a slot receiver but also run it.’ So, you start getting reminders of those players. I’m not sitting here saying Jahmyr Gibbs is those players, but just a special weapon like that. We have a lot of excitement and optimism.”
Faulk and McCaffrey are a very high bar for any running back to reach, so Holmes may be overreaching a bit while discussing a player he drafted ahead of where others had him going. If Gibbs is anything close, though, Holmes and the Lions won’t have to do much explaining about their choice to buck the prevailing trends at the running back position.
