How the Detroit Lions fill the 182 touches that are left behind by David Montgomery will be one of the defining numbers of their season, according to Matt Okada. The Lions had the best two-headed attack at running back for the past three years. Now, the team needs to not only replace the carries of Montgomery, but also do so efficiently enough to make the same impact.
Okada lays out two ways the Lions can do that. The first is giving Jahmyr Gibbs more attention in the rushing game. The second is allowing free agent signing Isiah Pacheco to step into the role. It could end up being a combination of the two.
The Detroit Lions Need to Replace David Montgomery’s Carries in 2026
GettyDetroit Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs.
Gibbs is likely to see an expanded role, and the Lions even said as much. Dan Campbell warned fantasy football managers that Gibbs is going to be the bell-cow of the team. They are going to feed him more now that they do not have Montgomery.
Still, Gibbs had 302 and 320 touches in the past two seasons, respectively. That ranked seventh in the NFL last year. Only one running back had more than 360 touches last year, so Gibbs might only be in line for 50 more touches. Jonathan Taylor had 369 touches, but Christian McCaffrey had an absurd 413. Somewhere in between might be reasonable, so it might be closer to 380, which would be 60 more touches.
Gibbs could be more efficient with those touches, but asking him to take on more might be too much. He is still not the biggest back, and most running backs who end up with over 400 touches are prone to injury, either in the current year or the following year.
Isiah Pacheco Needs To Take Work From Jahmyr Gibbs
With Gibbs taking 60 touches, there would still be 120 touches left from Montgomery. That is even lower than in past years because the team was playing from behind more. He had 221 touches when the team was in the lead more.
They need Pacheco to step into this role. After two seasons, Pacheco looked like a workhorse. However, he fractured his leg in 2024 and only played in seven games. He came back in 2025, but was not quite the same.
He missed four games, and his touches were more limited. Pacheco was not nearly as efficient as Montgomery. However, he was able to take on 137 touches.
The thought is that Pacheco was recovering from his injury, and he was still able to get that many touches. So, now that he is healthier and potentially behind a better offensive line, there is a chance that they can still get those 137 touches. However, they will come with more efficiency in Detroit. Therefore, he would be able to take on the rest of the work that Montgomery left behind. There would not be a strong drop in production, either.
Montgomery is not going to be an easy player to replace. That is why it is likely going to take two players performing better than last year to make it happen.
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