Jahmyr Gibbs Can Join Historic NFL Club in Week 1
Jahmyr Gibbs already owns one ridiculous NFL record.
On Sunday, he can add another.
The Detroit Lions running back enters the 2026 season with 49 touchdowns in 49 career regular-season games. One touchdown against the New Orleans Saints would make Gibbs only the sixth player in NFL history to score at least 50 scrimmage touchdowns within his first 50 games, according to NBC Sports.
The other five names on the list?
Jim Brown. Marcus Allen. Chuck Foreman. Larry Johnson. Steve Van Buren.
Not exactly bad company.
Gibbs has already reached 49 touchdowns faster than anyone needed him to. The Lions’ star has scored 39 times rushing and 10 times receiving through only three NFL seasons.
Now No. 0 gets a shot at a wonderfully clean milestone.
Game No. 50.
Touchdown No. 50.
Gibbs Has Already Done Something Nobody Else Has
Before worrying about the 50-in-50 club, appreciate what Gibbs has already accomplished.
Detroit’s own career breakdown of Gibbs notes that his 49 scrimmage touchdowns are the most by any NFL player through his first three seasons. He also became the first player in Lions history to record at least 1,800 scrimmage yards and 18 touchdowns in consecutive seasons.
That is the part that tends to get lost when discussing Gibbs.
The explosive plays are obvious. The acceleration looks unfair. The receiving ability gives defensive coordinators another problem they would rather not solve.
But Gibbs has also become an elite touchdown producer.
Through 49 games, his career totals stand at 3,580 rushing yards, 1,449 receiving yards and 5,029 yards from scrimmage. NFL.com lists him at a career 5.3 yards per carry, with 181 receptions already on the books.
Detroit did not draft a running back at No. 12.
It drafted an offensive weapon.
The Workload Could Get Even Bigger in 2026
The scarier part for opponents is that Gibbs may now be entering the most prominent offensive role of his career.
Detroit’s offseason plan has consistently pointed toward expanding his workload. The Lions’ training camp running back preview noted that Gibbs played 67 percent of the offensive snaps last season after sitting in the mid-50s during his first two years, and suggested that figure could climb closer to 75 percent in 2026.
Gibbs certainly is not worried about additional work. Earlier this offseason, we looked at his response to questions about handling a bigger Lions workload.
Then Detroit backed up its belief financially.
The Lions signed Gibbs to a massive extension through 2030, ensuring that one of football’s most dangerous players remains central to Drew Petzing’s offense for years to come.
One Touchdown Puts Gibbs With Some Serious Names
The historical list gives this one a little extra weight.
Brown and Allen are Hall of Famers. Van Buren is a Hall of Famer. Foreman was one of the NFL’s premier all-purpose backs of the 1970s, while Johnson authored one of the league’s great short-window scoring explosions in Kansas City.
Gibbs can join all five before turning 25.
There is also something fitting about the opportunity coming at Ford Field.
Detroit opens its season against New Orleans with expectations that Gibbs could be firmly in the Offensive Player of the Year conversation, an award race in which he entered the offseason as an early favorite. We previously examined why Gibbs was already sitting atop that race.
He does not need 200 yards Sunday to start that campaign.
He needs one trip to the end zone to make history.
And considering he has averaged exactly one touchdown per game for his NFL career, asking Gibbs for touchdown No. 50 in game No. 50 hardly feels unreasonable.
It almost feels inevitable.