When the Detroit Lions concluded the 2022 season, there was one position on the roster that everyone knew was figured out: running back. Jamaal Williams just had a 1,000-yard season and set a new franchise record for most touchdowns by a running back, and D’Andre Swift had a decent season, too.
Then the Lions shocked everyone and just totally replaced their backfield by signing David Montgomery and drafting Jahmyr Gibbs. Two moves that some thought weren’t going to pay off for Detroit or might not have been worth it.
Really it’s the Gibbs pick right? Draft experts just could not believe that the Lions skipped over positional value and took Gibbs with the 12th pick in the NFL Draft. How could they do such a thing?
Everyone said it was the worst move Brad Holmes and the Lions had made, and it received failing marks across the board. Lions fans won’t let anyone forget about it, and they’re totally right to do that.
Gibbs had a big breakout rookie season and then broke that Jamaal Williams record in his second season. Montgomery has run for 900 plue yards in both seasons. The Lions have completely changed the discussion around running backs and how you should acquire them.
For the last decade or so, running backs were kind of an afterthought in the draft and the idea was that they were a dime a dozen and you could just get one late unless they were very clearly a generational type of talent.
The Lions broke that model in 2023 and now teams that are attending the Senior Bowl this year are on the lookout for ways that they can emulate the Lions. The games executive director Jim Nagy spoke a bit about it Monday.
“Everyone in the league is trying to get to that point where Detroit is where you have a true complementary backfield with Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs”
We’re going to see if any team can successfully pull that off this offseason, but at this point, it wouldn’t be shocking to see one or two running backs go in the first round this year, and if and when that happens, you’ll know it was the Lions that inspired it. They did it. They made running back cool again.