The Detroit Lions’ running back room looks a lot different heading into the 2026 season. Detroit traded David Montgomery to the Houston Texans this offseason, landing a draft pick and starting center Juice Scruggs in the deal. The move appeared to be a win for both sides, but it left a hole behind Jahmyr Gibbs that the Lions expected Isiah Pacheco to fill after signing him in free agency. Now Pacheco is hurt, and the timeline for his return raises serious questions about whether he plays at all this year.

The Pacheco IR situation is telling

Here’s the thing about Pacheco’s injury. It’s not that the Lions added him to IR. It’s about when they added him to IR. If Detroit had placed him on injured reserve on Sunday when they finalized the 53-man roster, Pacheco would have landed in an IR return spot. But they didn’t do that. They waited two or three days, then added him to standard IR.

That timing points to the idea that Pacheco won’t be ready in four weeks like you’d expect with an IR return designation, which is what the Lions used for offensive guard Cade Mays. That doesn’t mean Mays will be ready in four weeks either, but the distinction matters. It suggests Pacheco may not play at all this season.

Campbell’s answer: it’s by committee

So who gets the running back 2 reps behind Gibbs? Jacob Saylors looked phenomenal this summer in both training camp and preseason. Sione Vaki dealt with a couple of injuries but also flashed when healthy during camp, running with the ones even though he didn’t play any preseason games. Lions coach Dan Campbell addressed the question on Monday.

Here’s what he had to say.

“I kind of mentioned this to me, it’s by committee too. Now, Vaki, I see Vaki getting some reps too now. I mean, I don’t see like, okay, well, Saylors is like running back 2. Saylors brings special teams value and there’s things that he’s been able to do. We’ve seen more of him than Vaki in preseason games, but Vaki’s banked some pretty good reps in practice and we know Vaki’s a very valuable special teams player too, but we feel like Vaki’s ready to take some of this on too as a runner and a pass protector and a receiver. So, we feel good with either one of those guys in there when Jah needs a breather.” — Dan Campbell, Lions head coach

What this means for the Lions’ backfield

Gibbs is getting the bell cow treatment. He’ll take the majority of the reps, though we still don’t know exactly what that workload looks like. We’re going to find out on Sunday when the Lions play the New Orleans Saints. You have to believe Saylors and Vaki will get in on some short third downs and goal-line situations.

I thought it was also interesting that Campbell mentioned Vaki as a potential receiver. We saw a little bit of that idea last year, the concept of Vaki as a receiver-running back hybrid. I’ve never really looked at him as a true running back. You look at Gibbs and you say that’s a positionless weapon. You could maybe look at Vaki the same way, but it’s like the diet version of that. Positionless weapon light. You could do a lot of different things with him, and the idea of him lining up as a receiver is intriguing. I’m not saying he’s going to be a wide receiver, but it’s worth paying attention to.

Saylors could get the majority of those RB2 reps against the Saints, but you’re going to see Vaki on the field against New Orleans as well. Maybe this is a battle that plays out for the rest of the season, where Detroit goes with whoever’s hot at the time. Or maybe by Week 3, Week 4, you know who owns the job. Or maybe at some point Pacheco comes back and takes those reps.

Either way, it’s a huge moment for both Vaki and Saylors. They have to take advantage of it. We’ll see what happens.

Detroit Lions News

How we got here: Everything that changed for the Lions between a 9-8 finish and Week 1

Mike Payton 2 hours ago