Lions RB Makes His Thoughts Clear On What Practice Is Like With Nick Saban

After a successful stint under legendary head coach Nick Saban at the University of Alabama, running back Jahmyr Gibbs was selected at No. 12 overall in the 2023 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions, setting up what might be a very bright future in the NFL.

The Lions bringing in Gibbs in the first round of the draft was unexpected and left many people scratching their heads, especially with D’Andre Swift in the fold in Detroit.

Detroit was confident enough in Gibbs’ ability that the team traded Swift to the Philadelphia Eagles, which set the rookie up to be a starter in the backfield right out of the gate to begin his career on the next level.

During his short time with the Lions thus far, Gibbs has seen one major difference between college practices compared to what he’s been put through on the NFL level in Detroit thus far.

According to Nolan Bianchi of The Detroit News via Dov Kleiman, Gibbs seems to like practices in the NFL compared to what appears to be a brutal experience in Saban’s practices at Alabama.

#Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs on the difference between a practice in the NFL and a practice under Nick Saban:

“Here, we get good work in, but they don’t try to kill us.” ?

(via @nolanbianchi) pic.twitter.com/ZEtzEkGooQ

— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) June 11, 2023

Gibbs’ coming out and saying this about a Saban-run practice isn’t all that surprising, as in college, head coaches have to impose their will and let players know who is the boss while molding them into primetime football players.

As for the NFL, lucrative contracts are at stake and pushing players too far seems like a thing of the past as it comes with too much risk and players potentially wanting to play for another team if the practices are over the top.

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