Jahmyr Gibbs has been with the Detroit Lions since only April 27, when the NFL team acquired the Alabama running back with the 12th choice in the draft. But Gibbs’ tenure with the Lions has been long enough for him to note some differences between pro and college football.

“The defense reacts to stuff faster,” for instance.

MORE NFL:

· EAGLES COACH FORESEES ‘ANOTHER JUMP’ FOR QUARTERBACK JALEN HURTS

· CAROLINA PANTHERS MAKE THE MOVE WITH BRYCE YOUNG

· TUA TAGOVAILOA ‘EXTREMELY COMFORTABLE’ PREPARING FOR HIS FOURTH SEASON

There’s also the matter of practice.

“NFL practice is different from college,” Gibbs said on Thursday, “and how, like, they approach the day, what they do in their spare time and their free time. …

“(Alabama coach Nick) Saban, he’s probably hitting every day, full pads in the heat for two hours. Here, we get good work in, but they don’t try to kill us.”

Detroit hasn’t done any hitting yet in practice, although that doesn’t mean coach Dan Campbell wouldn’t have the Lions hitting if he could.

Contact is prohibited during NFL offseason practices.

The Lions are winding up their program for this offseason. Detroit has four practices remaining next week in the final phase, during which they can include 7-on-7, 9-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills in their workouts.

Gibbs said he’s “still learning, trying to get better every day.”

Detroit drafted Gibbs after he ran for 926 yards and seven touchdowns on 151 carries and caught 44 passes for 444 yards and three touchdowns for the Crimson Tide in 2022. Over the two previous seasons, Gibbs had 1,206 yards and 15 touchdowns on 232 rushing attempts and 768 yards and five touchdowns on 59 receptions for Georgia Tech.

Gibbs said the Lions are prepping him for a dual role, too.

“I love how they’re using me,” Gibbs said. “That’s something I’ve been used to throughout high school, when I was at Tech and when I was at Bama, so I’m pretty used to being all around and learning different routes and concepts and stuff.”

RELATED: WOULD THE LIONS LET JAHMYR GIBBS RETURN KICKOFFS?

Last year, Detroit finished fifth in the NFL in points scored and fifth in yards gained. But the Lions have overhauled their backfield.

Jamaal Williams ran for 1,066 yards on 262 carries and led the NFL with 17 rushing touchdowns for Detroit in 2022. Williams left for the New Orleans Saints in free agency.

D’Andre Swift ran for 542 yards and five touchdowns on 99 carries and caught 48 passes for 389 yards and three touchdowns for the Lions last season. Detroit traded Swift to the Philadelphia Eagles two days after drafting Gibbs.

The Lions also added running back David Montgomery in free agency. Montgomery ran for 801 yards and five touchdowns on 201 carries and caught 34 passes for 316 yards and one touchdown last season for the Chicago Bears. In four seasons with Chicago, Montgomery had 3,609 yards and 26 touchdowns on 915 rushing attempts and 1,240 yards and four touchdowns on 155 receptions.

“I don’t know if I can compare them to last year right now,” Detroit offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said when asked about the differences between the Gibbs-Montgomery duo and the Williams-Swift pairing. “I mean, we’ve only been on the field here for a few weeks and we don’t even have pads on. But what I can say about that room is we have a lot of really hard workers.

“I’m very impressed with the professionalism of David Montgomery. He’s come in from Day 1 with a very deliberate thought process about how he approaches the weight room, how he approaches meetings, how he approaches his field work. He just wants to be a really, really good player, and that’s rubbed off on some of the other guys in that room. Not that they didn’t have it before, but they kind of have taken his lead in some ways. He’s the oldest guy.”

Gibbs said Montgomery had helped with his adjustment to the NFL.

“David’s cool. That’s my dude,” Gibbs said. “We talk a lot, but we don’t talk so much about football unless I ask him something or he asks me something.”

Gibbs thinks the changing of the guard at running back won’t slow down the Lions’ offense.

“This offense was already a really great offense,” Gibbs said. “I think with me coming in, we can be even more dominant.”

After next week’s practices, Detroit will take a break until gathering for training camp late next month. Gibbs said he hoped to “gain a little bit more weight” and “learn different routes” during the time off.

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.