Lions' biggest fantasy football winner from free agency is abundantly obvious

A week-plus into free agency, amid several departures, arguably the biggest move the Detroit Lions have made is trading running back David Montgomery to the Houston Texans. And with that, "Sonic and Knuckles" have been broken up.

As Gibbs has risen to become one of the best running backs in the NFL over the last couple seasons, he has of course become a fantasy football stud too. But even with a greatly reduced role last season, Montgomery stilll took up a lot of valuable real estate on the production front. And now, he's gone.

So Gibbs clearly had a place among the fantasy winners from the early part of free agency courtesy of Pro Football Focus' Nathan Jahnke.

"Gibbs was a winner when the team traded away David Montgomery. While Gibbs' share of touches and offensive snaps improved in 2025, Montgomery still took five touchdowns away from Gibbs on carries when the Lions were within three yards of scoring." 

"The Lions were inevitably going to add a second running back either in free agency or the draft, given their lack of depth remaining on the roster. There was a chance Detroit ended up with one of the top eight free agents or a mid-round draft pick on a running back. Instead, the Lions added Isiah Pacheco on the second day of free agency to a cheap one-year contract. While there is still a chance Pacheco will play a high percentage of his snaps in short-yardage and goal-line situations, Gibbs is more likely to see end-zone touches now than when Montgomery was in the backfield."

"Pacheco is worth considering in the late rounds of fantasy drafts. While he is no longer a starter, if Gibbs suffers an injury, Pacheco would be worth starting in fantasy leagues, given the strength of the Lions' offense and offensive line."

The sky is the limit for Jahmyr Gibbs in fantasy with David Montgomery gone

Not only were five of Montgomery's eight touchdowns last season from three yards out or less, but 21 of his 33 rushing scores over three seasons as a Lion were in that range. 12 of those touchdowns over the last three seasons were from one-yard out.

Gibbs clearly surpassed Montgomery in total red zone carries last season, 51 to 33. But Montgomery still had more carries inside the 10 (24 to 22) and 5-yard lines (14 to 9), just like he did the previous two seasons.

Beyond the low-red zone work Montgomery is leaving behind, in 2024 we got a glimpse of what Gibbs can do on his own in 2024. Tom Strachan of Fantasy Pros and The Fantasy Sanctuary reminded us of that by offering up a look at Gibbs' splits with and without Montgomery.

Isiah Pacheco's role as Montgomery's replacement in the Lions' backfield will surely be focused on short yadage and goal line work, with some sprinkling in for other situations. But it's unlikely he gets 50 percent or more of the Lions' total carries inside-the-10 like Montgomery did.

So Gibbs is naturally in line to get a piece of that vacated work, and he has already been a touchdown maven with 39 rushing scores in 49 career games.

READ MORE: Cam Jordan's latest comments on free agency deliver a cold reality to the Lions

Gibbs has been top-10 in the league in touches each of the last two seasons, but there's some room for that number to grow moving forward. A significant part of that is lined up to mean getting a larger share of the carries that help pay the bills for his fantasy managers around the goal line.

The record for fantasy points (full PPR) in a season is held by LaDainian Tomlinson, with 481.1 in 2006. It would take a remarkable feat of touch volume, production and scoring proficiency for anyone to even threaten him, let alone surpass him, in today's running back economy.

But if anyone can make Tomlinson sweat next season or beyond, Gibbs has to be atop the list now that Montgomery is not around to vulture touchdowns.