Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs has already declared himself ready to play in Sunday night’s season opener against the Rams after dealing with a hamstring injury.
Gibbs termed the issue “a little tweak,” saying that he’s good.
In his Wednesday press conference, head coach Dan Campbell said he’s liked what Gibbs has done since returning to practice.
“He looks really good,” Campbell said, via transcript from the team. “I think here’s the trick with Gibbs, and we tell him this. … When you can run like he runs — I mean, this guy can run — then if you don’t touch that speed in practice at least once or twice a day, you set yourself up for something to happen on Sunday. Because you haven’t — you’re a guy who runs 22 miles an hour, you better touch it because if the first time you touch it in a game when someone’s coming after you, I’m running away, that’s where bad things happen. When you have supreme speed, that’s where you can kind of pull away in practice. You pull away, you pull away, but you’re not — you haven’t had to truly turn it on until you got in the game.
“So, I think that’s just the trick is educating him on that and making him do that so that he doesn’t have a setback. So, we’re on it, he’s doing it, and we like where he’s at.”
Gibbs, the No. 12 overall pick of last year’s draft, accumulated 1,261 yards and 11 total touchdowns in 15 games as a rookie last year. He rushed for 945 yards and 10 touchdowns, averaging 5.2 yards per carry. And he caught 52 passes for 316 yards with one TD.
The Lions will release their first injury report of the 2024 season later on Wednesday.