Remember the days when putting Jahmyr Gibbs in your fantasy lineup used to feel like a method of medieval torture revived for those of us with the audacity to draft him as early as the second round in some drafts? Neither do we. It took an injury to David Montgomery to get Gibbs on the right side of the backfield utilization in Detroit, but what went around has officially come back around for Gibbs these past four weeks – and he’s been arguably the best fantasy running back in the league since Week 7.
In his last four games going all the way back to Week 7 (the first of two games that David Montgomery missed due to injury), Gibbs is the overall RB1 in fantasy points per game (26.3). His 8.5% explosive run rate per Fantasy Points Data also ranks first in the NFL among RBs with 50+ attempts in that same span, as well as his 5.64 yards per carry. For all intents and purposes, he’s been the fantasy RB1 over the past month and his high level of production has continued even with the return of David Montgomery.
The biggest thing that’s changed these past two weeks with David Montgomery back in the lineup compared to earlier in the season has been a new goal-line role for Gibbs. After handling just one such carry through his first six games this year, Gibbs has four goal line carries since Week 10 compared to David Montgomery’s three. That, plus a ridiculous 16% target share in the Lions offense, has Gibbs flying high into the stretch run of the season on an active four-game touchdown streak.