Jahmyr Gibbs fully took his place as a fantasy stud this year, and he's not going anywhere among the elite running backs anytime soon.
Entering the season, despite splitting work in the Detroit Lions backfield with David Montgomery, is was easy to see a lot of fantasy upside for Jahmyr Gibbs.
Through the first 13 games of the season (Week 14), Gibbs averaged 16.3 touches per game but had 1,328 yards from scrimmage with 12 total touchdowns and he was a top-five fantasy running back in any scoring format (standard, 0.5-point PPR, full PPR) over that span. The "what if Gibbs wasn't splitting work?" conversation was easy to have.
Montgomery suffered an MCL injury in his right knee in Week 15 against the Buffalo Bills. Starting then, during the fantasy playoffs (Week 15-17), Gibbs was the RB1 in full PPR and the RB2 in standard and 0.5-point PPR. With the consistency he had, more than 21 fantasy points in each of those playoff weeks regardless of scoring format, he was a legit league-winner this year and easy to tab as "the" league winner among running backs.
Jahmyr Gibbs was the only choice for a certain fantasy award
Counting Week 18, when he scored four touchdowns, Gibbs finished as the RB1 in fantasy (full PPR) this year.
But based on what he did during the playoffs for most leagues (Week 15-17), he was the easy choice for playoff MVP by Jonathan Macri of Pro Football Focus as he handed awards for the 2024 fantasy season.
"The overall PPR RB2 for the season never let his foot off the gas heading into the final weeks of the year, which included elite performances in every fantasy playoff week, finishing as the overall RB1 over that stretch. Gibbs delivered 26.7 PPR points per game in the fantasy playoffs, finishing as the weekly RB2 twice, including Week 17, and he was RB7 in Week 16."
"When it mattered most, Gibbs continued to perform at an elite level, delivering three rushing touchdowns on 257 rushing yards and one receiving touchdown on 174 receiving yards over that stretch."
"Gibbs was also among the top-12 most-rostered players heading into the fantasy playoffs, per ESPN, and the third-most rostered player on teams in the fantasy championship, also per ESPN."
Macri also acknowledged how good Gibbs was all season, in a category all his own among running backs there too.
"Gibbs was an elite fantasy asset all season long, never once finishing outside the top-24 PPR running backs in any single week, which no other player at his position can claim this season."
The question now is how high Gibbs goes in 2025 fantasy football drafts. He looks to be a top-10 overall pick, at minimum, every year for the foreseeable future.
