Joel Klatt explains why Jahmyr Gibbs fits with Buffalo Bills

The NFL Draft is rapidly approaching at the end of the month. So, now’s the time when draft analysts and talking heads all bog down on their mock drafts. Fox College Football analyst and broadcaster Joel Klatt is one of those folks, as he just freshened up his first round predictions this week.

As part of those, he picked out one perfect fit for Alabama star Jahmyr Gibbs in the first round.

That team? The Buffalo Bills. Per Klatt, Buffalo needs playmaking at running back that they’ve lacked the last to two years and he believes Gibbs can be that extra option alongside the star wide receiver duo to really open up the offense with Josh Allen at the helm.

Here was his rationale for the selection of Gibbs by Buffalo:

“So with the Bills, I think that they need to give Josh Allen a little bit of help at running back. There’s where I’m going Jahmyr Gibbs. I love Jahmyr Gibbs’ game. He’s versatile, he catches it out of the backfield as well as anybody. Now, he is not quite Bijan Robinson, yeah, he’s not quite Bijan Robinson because I don’t think he runs between the tackles with the same feel that Bijan does. But when you get him into some space, when you can check the ball down to a guy like Jahmyr Gibbs and he can make everybody miss and he can run the ball tough.”

That’s the selling point on Gibbs: his pass catching. Gibbs was nearly a 1,000-yard rusher, but his best contributions came in the passing game, where he finished third on the team with 444 yards. He’s shiftier than a slot receiver and obviously is a natural ball carrier — which makes him impossible to guard as a third or fourth option and release valve for the QB.

At Alabama last season, the safety valve became the primary option far too often as the Bama receiving corps suffered quite the step back from what the room had been the last few seasons. However, it gave Gibbs room to shine as a playmaker and a YAC (yards after catch) machine. But per Klatt, the blocking needs an upgrade if he’s to play a lot of passing downs at the next level.

“I just I love this pick. Now, he got in trouble a couple of times early in the year for blitz pickup. But that was not necessarily an issue late in the year. So, you know that he developed and when you see this guy run the football, whether he’s catching it out of the backfield or whether they hand it to him between the tackles or on that stretch play, it’s explosive. And I really love his game and think about Josh Allen, the Bills, with another weapon on the outside. They get better.”

They certainly get better and more explosive on offense, that’s for sure. But is that little extra boost on offense enough to justify a first round selection on a running back? We’ll just have to see.