Tashard Choice will be entering his second season as the Lions’ running backs coach in 2026, and also his second NFL campaign coaching the uber-talented Jahmyr Gibbs.
Yet, headed into the upcoming season, Gibbs will be the clear-cut No. 1 back in Detroit for the first time in his career.
It’s a role that Gibbs has seemed destined for since entering the league in 2023. And if anybody knows that the Pro Bowl back is up to the task, it’s Choice, who served as Gibbs’ running backs coach at Georgia Tech.
Gibbs, the No. 12 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, spent two seasons with the Yellow Jackets before transferring to Alabama for his final collegiate campaign.
In three combined years with Georgia Tech and Alabama, the dual-threat runner amassed 2,132 yards and 15 touchdowns on the ground, while also securing 103 catches for 1,215 yards and eight scores.
He hasn’t slowed down since reaching the professional ranks, either. Just last season, the do-it-all back rushed for 1,223 yards and 13 touchdowns, while compiling another 616 yards and five touchdowns as a receiver.
And Gibbs accomplished all that while David Montgomery, the “thunder” to Gibbs’ “lightning,” was also treated by Dan Campbell and Detroit’s coaching staff as a No. 1-caliber running back.
Montgomery, who spent three productive seasons in the Motor City, has since been moved to the Houston Texans. And while the Lions did pick up former Kansas City Chiefs RB Isiah Pacheco this offseason, there’s no question that Gibbs will head into 2026 as the team’s lead back.
And per Choice, the fourth-year pro has never been more physically ready for the start of a season.
“My conversation with Jah (Jahmyr Gibbs) once he finished the season last year was the fact that I wanted him to start faster at the beginning of the season,” Choice told reporters at minicamp. “So going into the offseason, how he prepared his body, he did some MMA training, training out there in (California) with (Amon-Ra) St. Brown, doing some different things so he can come back. So, he’s looked the best he’s looked so far in his pro career.”
Gibbs, one of three players over the past three seasons who’s produced 5,000 yards from scrimmage, accounted for 38 percent of the Lions’ touches – 10th in the NFL in terms of percentage of a team’s touches – in 2025.
From all accounts, the 24-year-old is ready for life without Montgomery, including the challenges of being a team’s undisputed bell-cow back.
“When the head coach tells you he’s giving you the keys and you have the responsibility for everybody in the organization, every kid and every fan that’s a Detroit Lions fan, my onus is to put that on him, and he has to handle that and has to handle it well,” Choice expressed.
The second-year Detroit RB coach added, “He’s smarter, he understands the offense. So, I’m excited for him. He has a big role to play, and I’m really (excited) to see what level he plays at right now.”
Additionally, Choice is glad the Lions’ 2026 backfield will be equipped with Pacheco, an ultra capable No. 2 back.
Pacheco, who started 42 of 51 games in his four seasons in Kansas City, appeared in 13 total games (12 starts) a season ago, notching 462 yards and a touchdown on 118 carries.
“For him, he’s very coachable,” Choice said of the ex-Chiefs back. “And when you have a coachable player who has the experience and played on two Super Bowl teams, was a starter and played a lot of meaningful minutes, for me, it’s to get him to be the best he can be and the most efficient I can get him. So, every little thing that he does, his alignment, his tracks, his landmarks, his eyes, I’m on him about every single thing.
“And when you want to be great, you want coaches to get on you. You want them to tell you there’s always ways to get better. And so for me, I always want to make sure I coach the person, the player. But, I love the person. So, my biggest thing is to get to know who ‘Zay’ is. I call him ‘Zay.’ I want to know who he is, the things he’s been through. And then once I go through that part, I can coach him.”
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