Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs had 29 carries for 116 yards on Sunday against the Packers, and added five catches for 27 yards. For most running backs, that's a huge workload. For Gibbs, it was nothing out of the ordinary.
After trading David Montgomery this offseason and then making Gibbs the highest-paid running back in the NFL, the Lions have been trying to get their money's worth by giving Gibbs the ball more than any player in the league. By a lot.
Gibbs has 134 carries and 32 catches this season, for a total of 166 touches. He leads the league in that category, even though the Lions have already had their bye and have only played six games this season, while most teams have played seven.
If Gibbs keeps to his current pace of 27.7 touches per game for the entire 17-game season, he'll finish this season with a whopping 470 touches. That would be the second-most in a season in NFL history, second only to former James Wilder, who had 492 touches with the 1984 Buccaneers.
Wilder played in a different era of the NFL, when teams loved feeding the ball to their workhorse backs. More recently, teams have become more cautious about not wanting to give their starting running back such a big workload that he breaks down. That has to be a concern in Detroit, but through six games, it's not a concern great enough to keep the Lions from doing what they've been doing, and making Gibbs the focal point of their offense.