By scoring three touchdowns in the Detroit Lions’ 44-30 victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Dec. 4, Jahmyr Gibbs pulled even with Barry Sanders for two NFL records.

As a Lions running back, Sanders scored 47 touchdowns from 1989 through 1991 — the most for any player in NFL history in his first three seasons and before his 24th birthday.

Gibbs has four games remaining on Detroit’s regular-season schedule to score a record-breaking 48th touchdown, and the running back’s 24th birthday doesn’t arrive until March 20.

Sanders had 43 rushing touchdowns and four receiving touchdowns in his first three NFL seasons. Gibbs has 39 rushing touchdowns and eight receiving touchdowns.

Gibbs joined the Lions from Alabama as the 12th selection in the 2023 NFL Draft. Detroit surprised draft watchers by trading up to pick Gibbs, who had been projected as late first-round or early second-round candidate after running for 926 yards and seven touchdowns on 151 carries and catching 44 passes for 444 yards and three touchdowns in his only season with the Crimson Tide as a transfer from Georgia Tech.

“When he was at Georgia Tech, I saw this guy that had this great ability to make you miss,” said Nick Saban, Gibbs’ coach at Alabama, during an appearance on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show.” “And probably one of the most important facets of being a great running back is to make a cut and get to full speed. How fast can you get to full speed out of a lateral cut? This guy can do it as well as anybody. I know they compare him to Barry Sanders, and he made a lot of guys miss — and I played against him and he made a lot of our guys miss. But that’s what Jahmyr Gibbs can do.

“He’s tough. He’s a great person. He’s a great receiver, and this guy can just do it all. And he’s making people miss. He runs behind his pads even though he’s not a great big guy, but he’s hard to tackle. And he’s got great acceleration and burst and speed out of a cut, which I think makes him unique in terms of his skill set, what he can do as a complete player in this offense. And you got to give the Lions credit because they use the guy the right way. They get him the ball the right way.”

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Gibbs’ first opportunity for his 48th touchdown will come against the Los Angeles Rams. The Lions and Rams square off at 3:25 p.m. CST Sunday at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

“I see as explosive of a player as there is in this league,” Los Angeles coach Sean McVay said of Gibbs. “Every single time he touches it, you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, he might score.’ And he’s unbelievable in both phases. You see him compete in protection. You know, there was a reason why he was so highly regarded coming out of Bama. And so he is a special, special player.

“And they’ve got a lot of them. You know, he and (David) Montgomery are excellent compliments to one another in the backfield. They got a great offensive line. (Quarterback) Jared (Goff) does a great job playing point guard and getting everybody involved. And, you know, (wide receivers) Jameson (Williams) and Amon-Ra (St. Brown) are unbelievable players. So this is a great challenge.”

Behind Gibbs’ 16 touchdowns, second in the NFL to the 18 of Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor, Detroit has scored more points than any team in the league in 2025. Only two NFL teams have yielded fewer points than Los Angeles this season.

At 10-3, the Rams are tied with the Seattle Seahawks for the lead in the NFC West. A victory on Sunday would assure Los Angeles a spot in the NFC playoffs with three games remaining on its regular-season schedule.

At 8-5, Detroit is 1.5 games behind the Green Bay Packers in the NFC North standings and currently the first team out of the NFC playoff field.

Gibbs has a new jersey number this season. He’s wearing No. 0 after being in No. 26 in his first two seasons with Detroit and in No. 1 at Alabama.

“I’m not big on what number they wear when they can score touchdowns like he does,” Saban said. “So it doesn’t matter to me. I mean, he can have no number.”