Through Week 6, splitting work with David Montgomery as expected, Jahmyr Gibbs was "fine", and even pretty good, as a fantasy football producer (RB10 by points per game in 0.5-point PPR). But he had not topped 85 rushing yards in a game, with two games where he was not targeted in the passing game.
In Week 7 against the Minnesota Vikings, however spurred by Montgomery suffering a knee injury during the game, Gibbs had a huge day (116 rushing yards, two touchdowns; four catches for 44 yards) on his way to finishing as the RB1 for the week across the board.
During his rookie season last year, Gibbs' fantasy managers who were patient were rewarded big-time. He may be on a similar track this year, and Lions head coach Dan Campbell sort of teased that a a few weeks ago.
"(Gibbs) continues to get better, and there was about probably three runs in there yesterday that are this close to going all the way", Campbell said on Oct. 1. It's been like that every week. There's been more and more of these that are this close. So, I would anticipate he's about to really take off. He's coming on."
Analyst offers big fantasy outlook for Jahmyr Gibbs
Looking at boom and bust fantasy performances from Week 7 and what they may mean heading into Week 8 and beyond, Beckett Mesko of Pro Football Focus highlighted Gibbs.
"Gibbs put up a career-high 32.0 PPR points in an electric outing in the Lions' win against the previously undefeated Vikings, whose defense had allowed only 11 PPR points to opposing running backs per game before Week 7."
"Although Gibbs saw a larger snap share due to suffering a knee injury, it was still an encouraging and impressive day for the second-year running back. He rushed for 116 yards on 15 attempts, with 74 yards coming after contact — the fourth most among running backs in Week 7. Gibbs also forced a league-high eight missed tackles, ranked second on the Lions in targets (four) and notched 43 receiving yards (53 after contact)."
"In addition to Gibbs' standout effort, Montgomery’s injury and lost fumble late in the game may help push the Lions' backfield split closer to 50-50 moving forward, if not sway it in Gibbs' direction."
Mesko finished with this "Going Forward" note about Gibbs.
"Bona fide top-five RB for rest of season with a case for dynasty RB1"
Is Jahmyr Gibbs RB1 in Dynasty right now? 👀 pic.twitter.com/6h4PiDs7B4
— PFF Fantasy & Betting (@PFF_Fantasy) October 24, 2024
The idea of Gibbs as the RB1 in dynasty is not new. From Week 7-17 last year he was a top-five fantasy running back, so that being in play for the rest of this season is not a reach.
Gibbs did not fully justify his 2024 ADP before Week 7. He won't repeat that performance often, since it was his career-high in PPR points (32), but it very could very well launch him to the fantasy stratosphere for the rest of this season (and beyond).
