Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs was simply rude to the host Cardinals in Sunday's win. He racked up 151 yards and 2 TDs on 25 carries, with another 56 yards on 5 catches among 6 targets. He ranked second on the team in targets and catches (tied) while checking in third in receiving yards. Gibbs' 100.8 rushing yards per game sit 17.7 higher than his previous peak, and his 48.6 receiving yards per game mark a jump of 12.4 from last year's high. That rate has increased each of the past three years. But should we be concerned about all the hits he's taking?
Rare Workload for a Guy This Size
Since the league hit 32 teams in 2002, there have been 60 player seasons of 21.0 carries per game or more. The median weight of the RB in those seasons has been 223 pounds.
Gibbs weighed 199 at the 2023 Scouting Combine, and the Lions list him at 202. Either weight would make this the second-lightest player season in that cohort, trailing only Chris Johnson's 2009 (197 pounds).
Just three other seasons found the RB lighter than 200 pounds, and two of those came from Maurice Jones-Drew.
Gibbs has already hit 20+ carries three times this season, a range he has now reached just nine times since entering the league in 2023. Sunday's rushing load marked his third-largest single-game number, with the 29 carries of Week 1 his career high.
Is It Damaging His Efficiency?
That's a difficult question to answer, but we might be seeing negative impact on Gibbs' rushing efficiency.
Pro Football Reference has him at a career-low 1.0 yards after contact per attempt, down from 1.7 last year, 2.4 in 2024, and 2.5 in 2023. And that's despite his yards before contact improving each year:
- 2023: 2.7 per attempt
- 2024: 3.3
- 2025: 3.4
- 2026: 3.8
Pro Football Focus' numbers disagree, finding his YAC per attempt in line with previous seasons:
- 3.00 in 2023
- 3.29 in 2024
- 2.95 in 2025
- 2.99 this year
But their numbers also find Gibbs gaining a career-low 31.3% of his yards via "breakaway" runs (15+ yards). That's down from 40.6% last year and 42.1% the year before but still ranks him 12th among 55 RBs with at least 20 carries.
NFL NextGenStats, meanwhile, finds Gibbs' rush yards over expected per attempt down vs. the past two years but still a solid 14th among qualifiers:
- 2026 -- 0.52
- 2025 -- 0.70
- 2024 -- 0.88
- 2023 -- 0.40
2026 Fantasy Football Impact: Enjoy It, But Seek Insurance
So what do we do with this? Honestly, there's not a whole lot to do.
Should you trade Gibbs now in case the elevated workload catches up with him further?
I can't really advocate that. He's outscoring even Kenneth Walker by 3.4 PPR points per game so far and sits 6.7 points per game ahead of No. 3 Bijan Robinson. Only five guys at the position are averaging 20.0 or more so far.
If Gibbs doesn't get hurt, you'd probably be trading away this year's fantasy MVP. Tough to find a return package to match that.
What you might be able to do is fortify your lineup around him. Try to evaluate just how much Gibbs is carrying you so far, and then try to improve where needed to limit the chances that a Gibbs injury would tank your season.
Come year end, we'll need to evaluate the potential impact of Gibbs' 2026 workload on our 2027 expectations.
