Detroit Lions Running Back Depth Chart — 2026

A handcuff is the backup who inherits the starter's workload if the starter gets hurt — so the Lions handcuff is whoever sits directly behind Jahmyr Gibbs on the depth chart above. Rostering him is how you protect a starting back you have already spent a pick on. More on what a handcuff is.

Jahmyr Gibbs does everything for Detroit: 94 targets, 70.5% of Detroit's pass snaps, 67.5% of its snaps. Isiah Pacheco arrives from Kansas City, where he ran -0.41 yards over expected per carry on 118 carries.

Gibbs has been close to ever-present — 49 of 51 team games across 3 seasons, 2 missed — which makes this backfield a low-probability, very high-stakes case.

The job is enormous: 243 carries at +0.69 yards over expected, 13th of 49 qualifying backs, 77 receptions for 616 yards, and 67.5% of the snaps.

Isiah Pacheco is the one other back with a real record, built in Kansas City: 118 carries at -0.41 per carry — 45th of 49 qualifying backs, near the bottom — and 51 of 68 team games.

Not many, and the reporting below suggests fewer still.

Gibbs already took 67.5% of Detroit's offensive snaps, 8th among running backs. Detroit's own preview expects that share to rise this season, not fall.

Isiah Pacheco was signed to take over a departed complement's role, and his 37.4% snap share in Kansas City is the size of that job. But he has now landed on injured reserve and dropped from RB2 to RB4 on Detroit's depth chart, so even that lesser role is out of reach for now. Here it would have been the smaller half of a backfield whose lead back is already near the top of the league in usage.

No. Gibbs played 440 pass snaps, 70.5% of Detroit's — 8th among running backs — against 67.5% of snaps overall, a tilt of +3.0 toward passing downs. He drew 94 targets, 5.53 a game, at 1.39 receiving yards per pass snap.

Pacheco, on injured reserve, played 264 pass snaps for Kansas City at 0.38 per snap — a fraction of the rate. The reporting below describes him as a complement in both the run and pass games, but the snaps he would be taking are currently nobody else's.

What the beat is reporting, last refreshed 2026-09-08. Nothing here is measured — it is reporting, attributed and dated.

Gibbs took 67 percent of the offensive snaps last year after 57 percent as a rookie in 2023 and 56 percent in 2024, and it would not be surprising if that is closer to 75 this season (DetroitLions.com, 2026-07-15).

Pacheco was signed in free agency to take David Montgomery's role, and Detroit thought he was a fit as a complement to Gibbs in both the run and pass games (DetroitLions.com, 2026-07-15). That outlook has since been overtaken by events: Pacheco has landed on IR after entering the week questionable, and he has dropped to fourth on the running back depth chart. Saylors has moved up to the No. 2 spot behind Gibbs, while Small is no longer listed on the depth chart at the position.