{"id":951271,"date":"2026-07-21T05:45:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T05:45:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/951271\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T05:45:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T05:45:30","slug":"lions-gibbs-heralded-as-a-top-nfl-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/951271\/","title":{"rendered":"Lions\u2019 Gibbs heralded as a top NFL back"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michigan Sports<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

The Lions’ Jahmyr Gibbs plays during the first half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo\/Ryan Sun)<\/p>\n

The expectations for Bijan Robinson were high as soon as he entered the NFL in 2023 as the first running back taken with a top-10 pick in five years.<\/p>\n

Robinson made an impact almost from the start with the Atlanta Falcons and then took his game to another level last season when he led the NFL in yards from scrimmage and was picked as the All-Pro running back.<\/p>\n

That production helped Robinson win the honor of being named the top running back in the league by The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

A panel of eight AP pro football writers ranked the top five players at running back, basing selections on current status entering the 2026 season. First-place votes were worth 10 points down to fifth place for 1 point.<\/p>\n

Robinson got three first-place votes, one second and was the only player named on all eight ballots to win the voting with 41 points. San Francisco\u2019s Christian McCaffrey got two first-place votes, with Baltimore\u2019s Derrick Henry also getting two first-place votes and coming in third.<\/p>\n

The other first-place vote went to Saquon Barkley, who finished fourth, with Detroit\u2019s Jahmyr Gibbs fifth.<\/p>\n

Indianapolis\u2019 Jonathan Taylor and Buffalo\u2019s James Cook also received votes.<\/p>\n

1. Bijan Robinson, Falcons<\/p>\n

Robinson, the eighth pick in 2023, is one of the top dual-threat backs in the league, finishing fourth in the league in rushing last season with 1,478 yards to go along with 820 yards receiving.<\/p>\n

He became the second player ever with at least 1,400 yards rushing and 800 yards receiving in the same season, joining Steven Jackson, who did it in 2006.<\/p>\n

Robinson led the NFL with 2,298 yards from scrimmage and scored 11 TDs on the season.<\/p>\n

2. Christian McCaffrey, 49ers<\/p>\n

McCaffrey has established himself as the most dangerous receiving threat out of the backfield and is a focal point of Kyle Shanahan\u2019s passing game in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

McCaffrey wasn\u2019t the explosive runner last season as he had been earlier in his career, rushing for 1,202 yards and averaging just 3.9 yards per carry. He more than made up for that with 102 catches for 924 yards.<\/p>\n

3. Derrick Henry, Ravens<\/p>\n

People have been waiting for Henry to shows signs of decline as he reached his 30s but it hasn\u2019t been evident yet.<\/p>\n

Henry has topped 1,500 yards rushing in each of the past two seasons after turning 30, with his five 1,500-yard seasons tied with Barry Sanders for the most ever.<\/p>\n

Henry ranked second in the NFL last season with 1,595 yards rushing and is 10th all-time with 13,018 yards.<\/p>\n

4. Saquon Barkley, Eagles<\/p>\n

Barkley took a step back from his record-setting 2024 season when his 2,504 yards rushing in the regular season and playoffs were the most ever as Philadelphia\u2019s offense was less potent last season. He still managed to rush for 1,140 yards.<\/p>\n

5. Jahmyr Gibbs, Lions<\/p>\n

Gibbs has been a scoring machine since entering the league with Robinson in 2023, when he was picked four spots later at No. 12 overall. Gibbs\u2019 49 career touchdowns are the most ever for a player before turning 24 years old, topping the previous mark of 47 set by Lions legend Barry Sanders.<\/p>\n

Gibbs rushed for 1,223 yards and added 616 more receiving last season when he scored 18 overall TDs.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NFL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nfl<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

The Lions’ Jahmyr Gibbs plays during the first half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo\/Ryan Sun)<\/p>\n

The Lions\u2019 Jahmyr Gibbs, left, holds off a Pittsburgh Steelers defender the first half on Dec. 21 in Detroit. (AP file photo)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michigan Sports The Lions’ Jahmyr Gibbs plays during the first half of an NFL football game against the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":951272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2074],"tags":[125698,223,254,2554,117,4127,4124,292,113,224,7,1674,6,109,14812,252,894,35976],"class_list":["post-951271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-atlanta-falcons","tag-ap-sports-writers","tag-atlanta","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-atlantafalcons","tag-baltimore-ravens","tag-bijan-robinson","tag-christian-mccaffrey","tag-derrick-henry","tag-detroit-lions","tag-falcons","tag-football","tag-jahmyr-gibbs","tag-nfl","tag-philadelphia-eagles","tag-pro-football","tag-san-francisco-49ers","tag-saquon-barkley","tag-top-running-backs"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116956386275935499","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=951271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/951272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=951271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=951271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=951271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}