Jahmyr Gibbs left practice yesterday with a hamstring injury. He's a first-round pick in most leagues thus far, so it's a pretty big deal. But while you never like to see players get hurt, it's not necessarily the worst news in the world. There are a few positives.
Most notably, the season is nearly four weeks away. This is being called a hamstring strain, typically a two-week injury, so there's no reason to think Gibbs won't be fine for the opener. Yes, as we often point out, hamstrings are tricky, with the possible of reaggravating it and so forth. But there's plenty of time to keep him on the shelf and not push it, and people can injure hamstrings at any time anyway. Am I now not going to draft Gibbs about where I would have anyway? Nah. I'll worry about the hamstring a little, but I was going to worry about him getting hurt anyway.
Gibbs will now be available a few spots later. If I was picking say 10th, I suspect I can now get him at 2.03 rather than 1.10. This could also serve as a reminder to Detroit that it's best not to overwork their star, increasing the odds of him staying fresh all season. And those of us who have talked up David Montgomery (or perhaps already drafted him) are feeling pretty good. He should play a little more, and be a little better of an option in lineups. (Negative is that he'll now be selected a little earlier, but what are you gonna do.)
But I'm still all in on both players. This was the best running back duo in the league last year. None had more rushing yards, and only the Dolphins duo of Mostert-Achane had more rushing touchdowns. Table sorted by rushing yards from the top 2 running backs.
| RUNNING BACK TANDEMS, 2023 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Running backs | Att | Yds | TD |
| Det. | David Montgomery-Jahmyr Gibbs | 401 | 1960 | 23 |
| Pitt. | Najee Harris-Jaylen Warren | 404 | 1819 | 12 |
| Mia. | Raheem Mostert-DeVon Achane | 312 | 1812 | 26 |
| S.F. | Christian McCaffrey-Elijah Mitchell | 347 | 1740 | 16 |
| Atl. | Bijan Robinson-Tyler Allgeier | 400 | 1659 | 8 |
| Ten. | Derrick Henry-Tyjae Spears | 380 | 1620 | 14 |
| Ind. | Zack Moss-Jonathan Taylor | 352 | 1535 | 12 |
| LAR | Kyren Williams-Royce Freeman | 305 | 1463 | 14 |
| Buff. | James Cook-Latavius Murray | 316 | 1422 | 6 |
| Phil. | D'Andre Swift-Kenneth Gainwell | 313 | 1413 | 7 |
| Sea. | Kenneth Walker-Zach Charbonnet | 327 | 1367 | 9 |
| Dall. | Tony Pollard-Rico Dowdle | 341 | 1366 | 8 |
| Car. | Chuba Hubbard-Miles Sanders | 367 | 1334 | 6 |
| Ari. | James Conner-Emari Demercado | 266 | 1324 | 9 |
| Hou. | Devin Singletary-Dameon Pierce | 361 | 1314 | 6 |
| G.B. | Aaron Jones-AJ Dillon | 320 | 1269 | 4 |
| N.E. | Ezekiel Elliott-Rhamondre Stevenson | 340 | 1261 | 7 |
| L.V. | Josh Jacobs-Zamir White | 337 | 1256 | 7 |
| Cle. | Jerome Ford-Kareem Hunt | 339 | 1224 | 13 |
| Cin. | Joe Mixon-Chase Brown | 301 | 1213 | 9 |
| NYJ | Breece Hall-Dalvin Cook | 290 | 1208 | 5 |
| Balt. | Gus Edwards-Keaton Mitchell | 245 | 1206 | 15 |
| Den. | Javonte Williams-Jaleel McLaughlin | 293 | 1184 | 4 |
| T.B. | Rachaad White-Chase Edmonds | 321 | 1166 | 6 |
| Min. | Alexander Mattison-Ty Chandler | 282 | 1161 | 3 |
| K.C. | Isiah Pacheco-Clyde Edwards-Helaire | 275 | 1158 | 8 |
| Jac. | Travis Etienne-Tank Bigsby | 317 | 1140 | 13 |
| NYG | Saquon Barkley-Matt Breida | 302 | 1113 | 7 |
| Chi. | Khalil Herbert-D'Onta Foreman | 241 | 1036 | 6 |
| LAC | Austin Ekeler-Joshua Kelley | 286 | 1033 | 7 |
| N.O. | Alvin Kamara-Jamaal Williams | 286 | 1000 | 6 |
| Was. | Brian Robinson-Antonio Gibson | 243 | 998 | 6 |
Looking at the list, I notice that six of the top 12 groups from a year ago are defunct due to player movement. One or two others also probably won't be what they once were due to injury (Elijah Mitchell in San Francisco) or new faces (Jaylen Wright in Miami). Not surprising.
We don't start running backs in tandems, but I think a case can be made for drafting both Gibbs and Montgomery. In a lot of weeks, both players will be very good, potentially both scoring (one almost certainly will get in the end zone each week. And if one of the two misses time due to injury, the other will really knock it out of the park.
--Andy Richardson
