Jahmyr Gibbs made a memorable impression on his teammates on the first day of Detroit Lions rookie minicamp before suffering an ankle injury that is expected to keep him out the rest of the weekend.
“He’s special,” fellow running back Mohamed Ibrahim said. “His first day out here he was doing amazing stuff. His footwork, his catching ability, the way he reads plays, he’s got great acceleration. The guy’s awesome. I can see why he was the 12th pick.”
Gibbs did not practice Saturday because of what Lions assistant general manager Ray Agnew described as a minor injury.
“He had a little tweak, but no big issue,” Agnew said. “He’ll be fine. We’re just being safe with it.”
The No. 12 pick of last month’s draft, Gibbs was one of the best dual-threat running backs in college football last season. He led Alabama with 926 yards rushing on 151 carries, added a team-high 44 receptions for 444 yards and said Saturday he expects to line up as both a wide receiver and running back for the Lions this fall.
Since rookie camp is largely an acclimation period for draft picks and undrafted rookies before full-team workouts resume next week, Gibbs won’t miss much by sitting out practices.
He said his goal for the week still is to “learn the playbook,” and he spent most of Saturday’s practice taking mental reps on the side.
“I think the game is more mental than physical ability anyway, so it’s good for me,” Gibbs said.
Agnew, the 10th pick of the 1990 draft, called Gibbs “gifted,” but said it’s important to temper expectations for the rookie and “let him get acclimated and see where he goes.”
“There is a lot of pressure (as a first-round pick) because you want to prove the people right that pick you,” Agnew said. “You want to be talented, you want to be there for the team, you want to do the right thing and you want to be a player. But I would just tell him to relax, it’ll come. The game will slow down to you. Your rookie year’s going to be fast, it’s going to be faster than you ever seen, but I think in today’s game there’s a little more – a little bit more of chance to be successful as a rookie than there was back when I played.”
Second-round pick Brian Branch and third-rounder Hendon Hooker also did not practice Saturday because of injuries, and third-rounder Brodric Martin left practice briefly but returned after injuring his left arm.
Hooker is recovering from a torn ACL he suffered last November and could be in line for a redshirt season this fall.
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.