After suffering a hamstring injury in practice recently, Detroit Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs has been up in the air for Week 1 of the 2024 season. However, head coach Dan Campbell provided a positive update on him on Tuesday.
Campbell revealed that the plan is for the Lions to get Gibbs working again after the preseason Week 3 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday, which puts him on track to be ready for the season-opener.
“With Gibbs, our plan is to get him going next week,” Campbell said, according to Erik Schlitt of Pride of Detroit. “He’s trending the right way... We wish we had more practice with him, but as far as the health of it, he is healing and he’s on schedule to be back, so he can get his legs back under him.”
Jahmyr Gibbs injury update
Assuming he returns when Campbell says he's expected to, Gibbs will have two weeks to get ready for Week 1, which falls on Sunday, Sept. 8, when the Lions will host the Los Angeles Rams.
Following an impressive rookie campaign that saw him tally 1,261 yards from scrimmage, including 945 on the ground, Gibbs is expected to have a larger role in the offense, and especially in the passing game.
“I definitely would expect him to see more of a load, but David Montgomery will still be here too,” general manager Brad Holmes said earlier this offseason. “Dan and I love that 1-2 punch of him and David. But just speaking on, specifically, him being a rookie last year, even when he had some pops in that K.C. game in that opener, I was watching, I was like, ‘He’s still trying to get the feel of the game.’ He was playing very fast, and he actually kind of needed to slow down a little bit . . . But once he got that sweet spot, you kind of saw it in the Ravens game, which unfortunately we didn’t show up very well for that game, but that’s when you started seeing some glimpses of, ‘I think it’s coming, I think it’s coming,’ Then, obviously, that Raiders game where I believe everyone saw the breakout. . . . I think he has much more to offer in the passing game, so most likely you’ll see an increase in that as well.”
Gibbs is one half of arguably the best backfield in the NFL, along with David Montgomery. Both Lions backs could surpass 1,000 yards on the ground in 2024.