I've written some here about Jahmyr Gibbs. It's hard not to be excited by him, not only the blazing 40 time but the film footage, where he jumps off the screen compared to the defenders trying to tackle him. Bijan Robinson is the top college back, but Gibbs should also be an early pick.
Gibbs ran a 4.36 at the combine, and that kind of speed is always going to get teams' attention. He's a little undersized for what you want from a lead back (5-9, 199), and some teams will shy away, and others will definitely be looking to pair him with another back. Alabama did just that; 5-foot-11, 212-pound Jase McClellan had only slightly fewer carries (151-112) and the same number of rushing touchdowns (7).
But Gibbs is similarly sized to other speedy backs who have been successful as main ballcarriers; C.J. Spiller and Jamaal Charles were a little taller but weighed the same. And you've got to like that Alabama pedigree with running backs these days.
I know: he's a lot smaller than those other, generally successful backs, almost all of whom weigh 220-plus pounds. I'm not suggesting he's similar physically. But something about the college experience is definitely serving these players well when they get away from the elite lines and offenses they're working in at Alabama. If it were just about being big and strong, other schools would have this kind of track record.
Table shows the NFL seasons of Alabama backs selected in the first three rounds since 2010. To make it more manageable and exclude major injuries, I included only seasons where they started at least 10 games. That gave me 27 seasons from those nine running backs. Nearly half (12) of those seasons were top 10 (PPR scoring). Seven more (so 19 of 27) were top 20 campaigns. (Ingram and Drake also had top-20 seasons where they fell below the 10-start threshold I went with.)
| ALABAMA RUNNING BACKS IN THE NFL, 2010-PRESENT | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Run | No | Rec | TD | PPR | Rk |
| 2020 | Derrick Henry | 2027 | 19 | 114 | 17 | 337.1 | 3 |
| 2022 | Josh Jacobs | 1653 | 53 | 400 | 12 | 330.3 | 3 |
| 2021 | Najee Harris | 1200 | 74 | 467 | 10 | 300.7 | 3 |
| 2022 | Derrick Henry | 1538 | 33 | 398 | 13 | 308.8 | 4 |
| 2019 | Derrick Henry | 1540 | 18 | 206 | 18 | 300.6 | 5 |
| 2014 | Eddie Lacy | 1139 | 42 | 427 | 13 | 276.6 | 6 |
| 2017 | Mark Ingram | 1124 | 58 | 416 | 12 | 284.0 | 6 |
| 2013 | Eddie Lacy | 1178 | 35 | 257 | 11 | 244.5 | 8 |
| 2020 | Josh Jacobs | 1065 | 33 | 238 | 12 | 235.3 | 8 |
| 2016 | Mark Ingram | 1043 | 46 | 319 | 10 | 246.2 | 8 |
| 2012 | Trent Richardson | 950 | 51 | 367 | 12 | 254.7 | 8 |
| 2019 | Mark Ingram | 1018 | 26 | 247 | 15 | 246.5 | 10 |
| 2021 | Josh Jacobs | 872 | 54 | 348 | 9 | 230.0 | 12 |
| 2015 | Mark Ingram | 769 | 50 | 405 | 6 | 205.4 | 12 |
| 2021 | Damien Harris | 929 | 18 | 132 | 15 | 214.1 | 14 |
| 2022 | Najee Harris | 1034 | 41 | 229 | 10 | 227.5 | 14 |
| 2020 | Kenyan Drake | 955 | 25 | 137 | 10 | 194.2 | 15 |
| 2018 | Derrick Henry | 1059 | 15 | 99 | 12 | 203.5 | 16 |
| 2019 | Kenyan Drake | 817 | 50 | 345 | 8 | 216.2 | 17 |
| 2019 | Josh Jacobs | 1150 | 20 | 166 | 7 | 193.6 | 21 |
| 2015 | T.J. Yeldon | 740 | 36 | 279 | 3 | 155.9 | 28 |
| 2015 | Eddie Lacy | 758 | 20 | 188 | 5 | 144.6 | 32 |
| 2013 | Trent Richardson | 563 | 35 | 316 | 4 | 146.9 | 32 |
| 2016 | T.J. Yeldon | 465 | 50 | 312 | 2 | 139.7 | 34 |
| 2014 | Trent Richardson | 519 | 27 | 229 | 3 | 119.8 | 37 |
| 2021 | Mark Ingram | 554 | 27 | 162 | 2 | 110.6 | 49 |
| 2020 | Damien Harris | 691 | 5 | 52 | 2 | 91.3 | 53 |
Final note on size. Two of the three biggest backs on the above list (Eddie Lacy and Trent Richardson) were the ones who burned out the quickest. (A cautionary note, I suppose for those mulling acquiring Najee Harris in a dynasty league.) Derrick Henry obviously has kept things going for a number of years, but there are negatives with being too big, too.
I don't have a rookie pick anywhere that's going to enable me to select Gibbs in a draft, but I'll be interested to see where he lands, and considering reaching for him in 2023 redraft leagues. He looks that good to me.
--Andy Richardson