The Detroit Lions won their first preseason game against the New York Giants 21-16. While preseason game results don’t really mean anything, preseason performances often can. That’s why some players on the Lions roster who stepped up in this game could be in line to move up the depth chart, while other players, like running back David Montgomery, could be in danger of losing their starting jobs as the Lions training camp and preseason roll on.

RB David Montgomery

The Lions had a decent running game last season, finishing 11th in the NFL with 2,179 yards. Jamaal Williams finished the season as a 1,000-yard rusher and D’Andre Swift added 542 yards of his own.

This offseason, though, the team revamped their running backs room, letting Williams go in free agency and trading Swift to the Philadelphia Eagles. The team replaced them with David Montgomery in free agency from their NFC North rival Chicago Bears and drafted Alabama RB Jahmyr Gibbs No. 12 overall.

On the current Lions' depth chart, Montgomery is the starter. In his four NFL seasons, the 2019 third-round pick has rushed for over 800 yards three times and over 1,000 yards in 2020.

Gibbs had over 1,300 all-purpose yards in 2021 at Georgia Tech and over 1,400 in his one year with the Crimson Tide. He is a fast, dual-threat back who was the No. 2-ranked RB in the 2023 draft class behind Texas’ Bijan Robinson.

Montgomery didn’t play in the first Lions' preseason game, but Gibbs did. He had six carries for 19 yards and a catch for 18 yards. While those numbers aren’t incredible, he did show that he can run and catch at the pro level and looked explosive at times doing so.

The Lions' offense will have a running-back-by-committee situation this year, but the better Gibbs plays in the preseason, the more chance he will have to be the RB1 on the Lions’ roster.

And aside from the production, Gibbs has expectations on his side. Picking a RB in the first round, let alone in the top-12, is not something many NFL teams do these days. Dan Campbell and the Lions will want to prove this was a shrewd decision, so they will give Gibbs every opportunity to win the job.

Like most rookies, Gibbs will have to show that he can pass protect for his quarterback, Jared Goff, in order to get on the field to start the season. He is not the biggest back at 5-foot-11, 200 pounds, but if his blocking is good enough, he should be able to make it as the Lions' starting runner in Week 1 vs. the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.

LB Derrick Barnes

In addition to Jahmyr Gibbs, the Lions also reached for a player at a position that isn’t overly valued in the first round at pick No. 18. That’s when they took Jack Campbell, an off-ball linebacker from Iowa.

Campbell was the highest-ranked player at his position in the draft but non-pass-rushing LB is another position that usually falls further down draft boards. The next off-ball LB didn’t go until pick No. 67 in round 3 (Drew Sanders, Denver Broncos).

The current starting LBs on the Lions roster are veteran Alex Anzalone and third-year pro Derrick Barnes. Barnes was a fourth-round pick in 2021 and has 32 games and 10 starts under his belt with Detroit.

Last season, Barnes played 35% of the team’s defensive snaps and made 47 tackles with 1.0 sacks and one pass defended.

Barnes got the start against the Giants, but it was Campbell who made his presence felt during the game. He led the team with four tackles and tipped a pass in coverage on a big 3rd-down play. He also was a key to big Lions stops on a 3rd- and 4th-and-short series in the second quarter.

The reason Campbell was so highly ranked in the draft is that he was a playmaker and a leader on the defense in college. That is the role Detroit hopes he steps into in Lions training camp. As the middle linebacker, he will have to be the quarterback of the defense, which I tough for a rookie.

That said, if he keeps making plays and filling up the stat sheet as he did in the first Lions' preseason game, it will be incredibly difficult to keep him off the field.

Anzalone is a six-year vet who has spent the last two seasons in Detroit. So, it is possible that he can be the one to get the D lined up and ready to play early on in Campbell’s career while he gets acclimated to the NFL.

Either way, this will be Campbell’s job soon, and it could be sooner than most think.