The Chicago Bears’ selection of Ben Johnson as their head coach triggered a chain reaction that reunited Detroit Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs in the NFL with a former college position coach.
Johnson served as Detroit’s offensive coordinator for the previous three seasons. When he left this offseason to take the reins in Chicago, Johnson took with him Antwaan Randle El, the Lions’ wide-receivers coach, to handle that job and work as assistant head coach with the Bears.
Afterward, Detroit shifted its assistant head coach, Scottie Montgomery, from running-backs coach to wide-receivers coach, then hired Texas running-backs coach Tashard Choice for that spot on Dan Campbell’s staff.
Choice previously coached Gibbs in 2020 and 2021 at Georgia Tech.
“For him, the sky’s the limit,” Choice said of Gibbs. “But I’m going to push him. I’m going to push him like no other. I have to.”
After the 2021 season, Choice and Gibbs left Georgia Tech. Choice joined Steve Sarkisian’s staff at Texas. Gibbs transferred to Alabama, where he ran for 926 yards and seven touchdowns on 151 carries and caught 44 passes for 444 yards and three touchdowns in 2022 before the Lions picked him No. 12 in the 2023 NFL Draft.
In both of his NFL seasons, Gibbs has been selected for the Pro Bowl. He has run for 2,357 yards and 26 touchdowns on 432 carries and caught 104 passes for 833 yards and five touchdowns for Detroit.
Gibbs joined Pro Football Hall of Fame member Edgerrin James as the only players in NFL history with at least 2,000 rushing yards, 25 rushing touchdowns, 100 receptions and five touchdown receptions in their first two seasons in the league.
“To see him progress, to see how smart he is – he’s one of the smartest running backs I’ve ever coached,” Choice said. “He’s a natural football player. You tell him something, he understands it; he gets it right now. You don’t have to coach him over and over again on football stuff. It’s easy to him.“So having the opportunity to get around him now coaching, I’m going to be harder on him even more. I tell him all day, like, Zero, he can’t do anything right on the field, but Jahmyr Gibbs I love. Same thing with David Montgomery. When they’re on the football field, they’re the player, not the person. I’m coaching them to get better.”
During his two NFL seasons, Gibbs has shared carries with Montgomery. Montgomery has 404 carries for 1,790 yards and 25 touchdowns and 52 receptions for 458 yards in the past two seasons.
Gibbs and Montgomery are the only running-back tandem in NFL history to record at least 10 rushing touchdowns apiece in back-to-back seasons.
For those who knew what to look for, Choice said, it wasn’t hard to see Gibbs would be a top-flight running back, even though some colleges recruited him as a defensive back.
“When I saw Jah first play in person,” Choice said, “me and my friend go up to a game and he ran the first run and my friend just did me like this in the crowd, like ‘Get out of here.’ And I kept looking at other running backs, and it’s like, ‘Nah, none of them’s better than him.’ …
