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3 Lions Players Are Seeing Their Stock Rise After 2-1 Start
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- 3 Lions Players Are Seeing Their Stock Rise After 2-1 Start
The Detroit Lions haven't made anything easy through three weeks. They needed overtime to beat the New Orleans Saints by a point, lost a 41-31 shootout in Buffalo and held off the New York Jets 31-24 in Week 3.
That last one came down to a Jahmyr Gibbs touchdown with 2:25 left and a Chuck Clark strip-sack of Geno Smith in the final minutes. Close games have a way of showing who a team can really count on, and three Lions have made a strong case early.
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Stock up: Jahmyr Gibbs
Sep 27, 2026; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs (0) runs with the ball past New York Jets defensive line Tyler Baron (94) during the third quarter at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images
Gibbs ran 20 times for 99 yards and two touchdowns against the Jets and caught seven passes for 65 yards and a third score. That's 164 scrimmage yards, and it follows a 186-yard, two-touchdown opener against the Saints.
He now has six touchdowns in three games, and he and Billy Sims are the only players in franchise history with 100 scrimmage yards and a touchdown in each of the first three games of a season. His 43rd career rushing touchdown moved him past Sims for second on the Lions' all-time list, behind only Barry Sanders.
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"Gibbs hit another gear once we got him going, particularly in the second half," head coach Dan Campbell said .
Stock up: Jared Goff
Goff was 25-for-32 for 269 yards and two touchdown passes against New York, spreading the ball to eight different receivers for a 122.5 passer rating. The week before, he threw for 327 yards and four touchdowns in the loss to the Bills. Detroit has scored exactly 31 points in all three games, and Goff is a big reason the offense hasn't dipped.
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Through three games, he has more than 800 yards and eight touchdowns with no interceptions while completing better than 70% of his passes. According to the team, only five other quarterbacks have done that through three games : Kirk Cousins , Patrick Mahomes , Drew Brees , Tom Brady and Peyton Manning .
"I think I've done a good job of being disciplined and not getting frustrated with the lack of deep throws," Goff said Sunday .
Stock up: Christian Izien
Detroit Lions defensive back Christian Izien (5) celebrates a play against New York Jets during the first half at Ford Field in Detroit on Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026.
Izien spent the first two weeks as a nickel option. With veteran Avonte Maddox out for the season with a foot injury, he made his first start at safety against the Jets and led Detroit with 11 tackles, a career-high three tackles for loss and a pass defensed. He said he played with "the mindset of just destroying anything in my way."
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The Lions moved him all over the field. Of his 64 defensive snaps, 26 came at free safety and 26 in the box, with nine more in the slot and three on the defensive line.
"Huge impact. That's what he looked like in practice. He took it serious," Campbell said. For a defense dealing with a safety problem since the opener, that kind of versatility could keep him in the lineup.
The Lions visit the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, Oct. 4, with kickoff set for 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC.
This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on Sep 28, 2026, where it first appeared in the NFL section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
