Who Should I Start? James Cook III or Jahmyr Gibbs

Sunday, June 28, 6:00 AM

In case the Detroit Lions' trading of David Montgomery to the Texans was not signal enough that fourth-year running back Jahmyr Gibbs was going to be the team's bell cow back for the 2026 season, head coach Dan Campbell said the words clear as day in one of his first media sessions of organized team activities, telling reporters, "He's going to be our bell cow now," and then later, "We're going to hang our hat on him quite a bit. We're going to do a lot of things we feel like he does well." Running backs coach Tashard Choice, who has known Gibbs since he was a high school recruit, has since expressed belief that the 2023 first-round pick is in the best shape of his life, and having already finished as the RB4 and the RB2 in his past two seasons (while Montgomery was still averaging more than 200 touches of his own), expectations are through the roof for 2026. The Lions signed former Chief Isiah Pacheco to a one-year deal in free agency, but after averaging more than 1,000 yards from scrimmage over his first two years in the league, the 2022 seventh-round pick has struggled through injuries and has been held to only 952 yards and three touchdowns across the past two seasons. While he will undoubtedly play a role in keeping Gibbs fresh, all the rhetoric out of Detroit suggests that the backfield is ready to be fully handed over to one of the most explosive playmakers in the league. As such, Gibbs has earned the top overall spot in RotoBaller's 2026 single-quarterback fantasy rankings.