The Detroit Lions had a pretty successful rushing attack in 2022 with the RB combination of Jamaal Williams and D’Andre Swift. There’s one facet of the run game where neither excelled, however. And it’s an area where their replacements in Detroit, veteran David Montgomery and first-round rookie Jahmyr Gibbs, both excel.
Breaking tackles.
Williams was capable at times of running through a tackle. According to statistical data provided by Sports Info Solutions, Williams broke 16 tackles for the Lions in 2022. He did that on 262 rushing attempts, a rate of 0.06 broken tackles per carry. Swift broke five tackles on his 99 attempts, a rate of 0.05.
Among backs who played at least 250 snaps, those rates rank 46th for Williams and 52nd for Swift (ties broken by the number of carries) out of 71 qualifying RBs in the league.
Montgomery instantly upgrades that broken tackle factor. He broke more tackles by himself with the Bears (23) than Williams and Swift did combined in Detroit (21), and did so on just 201 rushing attempts. His broken tackle rate of 0.11 ranked 16th in the league, tied with Derrick Henry and Nick Chubb (among others). His running style and contact balance is more conducive to breaking tackles than what the Lions had last year.
When offensive coordinator Ben Johnson talked about “leaving meat on the bone” in the run game, this is one area he’s chewing at. Williams and (especially) Swift were very good at gaining what the line blocked for them, but too many potential home runs wound up as doubles or long singles. Montgomery brings the ability to convert more of those open-field opportunities into bigger results with his above-average ability to break tackles.
Then there’s Gibbs. He was a broken tackle machine at both Georgia Tech and Alabama. While the stats are somewhat subjective, Gibbs was credited with 104 avoided tackles in his three college years. That includes both runs and receptions and doesn’t differentiate between forced missed tackles and broken tackles — the former being a sign of elusiveness more than contact balance and power.
Running through tackles is all over Gibbs’ highlight reels, including this one from The Athletic’s Nick Baumgardner,
few Jahmyr Gibbs things pic.twitter.com/kYH5pW7go0
— Nick Baumgardner (@nickbaumgardner) May 16, 2023
Gibbs has got a lot more strength and balance through contact than Swift brought to the table in that role in Detroit. It’s a point of emphasis for the Lions offense, something stressed in the offseason practices by new Lions RB coach Scottie Montgomery repeatedly.
