Lions’ Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery both on pace to top 1,000 rushing yards

The Lions could pull off a rare feat this season with two different players running for 1,000 yards.

Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs has 656 rushing yards in eight games this season, putting him on pace for 1,394 yards in a 17-game season. And teammate David Montgomery has 488 rushing yards in eight games, putting him on pace for 1,037 yards in a 17-game season.

Only seven teams in NFL history have had two 1,000-yard rushers. The first was the perfect 1972 Dolphins, which saw Larry Csonka and Mercury Morris both hit for 1,000 yards. Also the 1976 Steelers (Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier), the 1985 Browns (Kevin Mack and Earnest Byner), the 2006 Falcons (Warrick Dunn and Michael Vick), the 2008 Giants (Brandon Jacobs and Derrick Ward), the 2009 Panthers (Jonathan Stewart) and DeAngelo Williams) and 2019 Ravens (Lamar Jackson and Mark Ingram).

At a time when NFL teams typically don’t invest in the running back position, the Lions have largely gone in the opposite direction, using the 12th pick in last year’s draft on Gibbs despite signing Montgomery in free agency a month earlier had signed, and this year they extended Montgomery’s contract, a very rare move for an NFL team with a veteran running back who had two years left on his previous contract.

It’s unorthodox, but it works in Detroit, where the Lions have a 1-2 punch at running back that no other team can match.