Jahmyr Gibbs has exploded onto the scene in his first three years with the Detroit Lions. In these three seasons Gibbs has put up over 1,200 yards from scrimmage racking up 49 total touchdowns and hitting the 1,800 yard from scrimmage mark in 2024 and 2025. Gibbs has been the type of running back you expect to come out of Alabama after Mark Ingram, Derrick Henry, and Josh Jacobs. With the news from Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell that Gibbs is gearing up for the “bell cow” role in this Detroit offense in 2026, what should we expect from Gibbs going into this season?
How has Jahmyr Gibbs been used?
Since entering the league in 2023 Jahmyr Gibbs has been electric when he’s been on the field. Gibbs’ ability to make defenders miss and rip defenses apart with his blazing speed and shiftiness in open space has vaulted Gibbs into conversations for best running back in the league. In his first season he closed out the year as the 10th overall running back on 57.1% of snaps , and has since been RB1 on 52.3% in 2024 and RB3 on 67.7% in 2025. Gibbs ability to do great things to start his career sets him up to be one of the greatest running backs of this generation.
While he’s been splitting carries with David Montgomery forming the legendary Sonic and Knuckles duo, the Lions have had 1,476 carries for 6,840 yards and 77 touchdowns. Averaging 134 yards-per-game with 1.5 touchdowns per game over that stretch. Now, we can’t just combine Sonic and Knuckles statistics and set our expectations for Gibbs as the accumulative totals of two different players. We need to look at what Gibbs has done on his own in this situation. Let’s look at the numbers.
What can Gibbs do?
Jahmyr Gibbs has seen 20 carries only six times in his career. In this small sample of games, he has averaged 22.5 carries for 104.2 yard per game with 1.3 touchdowns. This is fantastic. That’s an average of about 17 points per game. But those are just his rushing stats. If we factor in the amount of receptions that Gibbs has had in this six game sample, we can get a better picture. In these games he averages 4.1 catches for 28.6 yards totaling about 24 fantasy points per game. That’s only three more points than he’s averaged per season the last two years. I believe this is a solid foundation to build on for the coming season.
Gibbs ability to catch passes out of the backfield is arguably the best in the league. Last season Gibbs saw over 10 targets three times. In weeks 1, 12, and 16 he caught the ball at least 10 times on 10, 12, and 13 targets. In 2025 he saw 94 targets, catching 77 of those passes for 616 yards and 5 touchdowns. 77 receptions is enough for 15th among wide receivers tied with Devonta Smith who didn’t miss a game in 2025. Gibbs has shown his ability to be a viable pass catcher in an offense with standouts like Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, and Sam LaPorta. While his ADOT (average depth of target) is lower than your typical wideout, when Gibbs sees the open field on a screen he makes it count.
With this ability to score fantasy points in the passing game, Gibbs ceiling skyrockets. Scoring 55.4 against the Giants last season was incredible - it was the 20th best fantasy game of all time, and it was the highest point total we’ve seen since Ja’Marr Chase in 2022 against the KC Chiefs, but we can’t expect that from him every week. He had 12 targets for 11 receptions in that game. As a rusher alone in that game Gibbs scored 33.9 points. Gibbs added 21.5 points in the receiving game alone. In week 12 he was RB1 with just his rushing totals and WR8 with his receiving totals.
What does this mean?
If we take these statistics and spread them out over a 17 game season we can project Gibbs to see 382.5 carries for 1,771 rushing yards with 25.5 rushing touchdowns. Add in the receiving stats at 70.8 catches for 487.3 yards and 3 touchdowns, you find yourself at 466.4 fantasy points. This would be 3rd most at the running back position ever.
That looks amazing. Fantasy managers see these numbers and start to drool. We haven’t seen numbers like this since 2019 Christian McCaffrey scored 467.2 or 2006 LaDanian Tomlinson with 481.1 points. This season and the years to come for Jahmyr Gibbs could be truly historic.
You (like me) may be thinking Gibbs is clearly the number one running back for Dynasty Startup’s and Redraft leagues alike. But what if I told you that’s not all? We’ve seen Jahmyr Gibbs turn it up another notch.
In 2025 Jahmyr Gibbs proved to all of us that he has another level. Remember the Giants game in 2025? 55.4 PPR points. Between weeks 7 and 14 Gibbs averaged 29.2 FPPG. Remember, Gibbs was splitting time with David Montgomery.
What does 2026 hold for Gibbs?
Gibbs numbers throughout his career have made him a top option in fantasy, and in 2026, this upward trend should continue. I am setting my expectations for Gibbs at RB1 overall. At 24 years old Gibbs is just entering his prime and after scoring 366 points in 2025 and the increasing role in the offense for 2026, it is certainly a possibility for the 4th year Alabama product to prove how truly elite he can be. LaDanian Tomlinson’s single season fantasy points record has stood strong for 20 years. Could 2026 be the year Tomlinson’s record is broken?
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To see our top 30 RB rankings for 2026, check out https://dynatyze.com/football/articles/the-perfect-build-based-on-draft-position