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The Detroit Lions paid a steep price to draft Alabama running back Jahmyr Gibbs. Not all NFL executives believe the cost was worth it.
Not only did the Lions take Gibbs with the No. 12 pick, but they traded D’Andre Swift to make room for him on the roster.
“Using a first-round pick to swap out a non-premium position, that was a weird one,” one executive told The Athletic’s Mike Sando. “How great does Gibbs have to be to justify it?”
Star running backs like Green Bay’s Aaron Jones (a 2017 fifth-round pick) and the Chargers’ Austin Ekeler (undrafted in 2017) have convinced many GMs they can wait to find talent at this position outside of the first round.
This year, however, the Atlanta Falcons snagged Texas’ Bijan Robinson with the No. 8 pick, and the Lions dropped down from sixth to grab Gibbs at No. 12.
Josh Norris @JoshNorris
Lions GM Brad Holmes could have selected Bijan Robinson at 6th overall
Instead, he traded out, added a premium pick, and selected Jahmyr Gibbs at 12th overall
Here he explains the difference between the two, calling Bijan a ‘bellcow’ pic.twitter.com/dnPiXYeIV2
Per Sports Illustrated‘s Albert Breer, the Lions wanted to use their sixth overall pick to take Illinois cornerback Devon Witherspoon. Detroit had to pivot quickly when the Seattle Seahawks took Witherspoon off the board at No. 5.
Taking Gibbs with the No. 6 pick, ahead even of Robinson, certainly would have been even “weirder” to other executives. Instead, the Lions traded spots with the Cardinals, a move that earned them a high second-round pick and Gibbs. Six spots later, the Lions used the No. 18 pick to take Iowa linebacker Jack Campbell.
“I think it’s really high to take Gibbs (No. 12), and it was high to take Campbell (No. 18), and you paid those positions in free agency with almost identical three-year, $18 million contracts,” another executive told Sando. “That said, Gibbs is dynamic, and that offensive coordinator (Ben Johnson) is going to get the most out of him. They are going to be hard to defend.”
The Lions had extensively scouted both Gibbs, who Breer said GM Brad Holmes considered “more of a weapon than a back,” and Campbell, who Detroit saw as a potential long-term centerpiece.
If Gibbs turns out to be the player the Lions think he is, he and Robinson could spark a change in how NFL GMs value running backs in future drafts.
