A major curveball is getting thrown into the league’s most explosive offense. LeSean McCoy will join Kansas City, according to a report from ProFootballTalk.com.
Assuming this goes down (and he’ll presumably sign on Sunday) McCoy would be re-united with Andy Reid. They spent four years together in Philadelphia. The Eagles traded McCoy in 2014, but that deal came two years after Reid left.
McCoy isn’t the back he used to be. He’s 31, and he’s averaged only 3.2 yards per carry last year for the Bills. But he still has some ability. He ran for 1,138 yards in 2017 as a 29-year-old. The Bills released him, but GM Brandon Beane said they would have been comfortable rolling with McCoy for another season – they just liked rookie Devin Singletary and 36-year-old Frank Gore more.
McCoy has good pass-catching ability, and he knows Reid’s offense. He has never been a good short-yardage runner (he’s not big and tends to be a shake-and-bake guy) so he presumably wouldn’t get a lot of goal-line carries.
Kansas City, meanwhile, has a somewhat unsettled backfield. Damien Williams has shown flashes of potential, but he’s 27 and not really proven. Multiple times in the last month, the team has talked about going to more of a committee approach at running back. On other days, they’ve talked up Williams.
Sixth-rounder Darwin Thompson looks like a neat little player; he averaged 5.0 yards per carry. They’d presumably like to get him some touches. They’ve also got Darrel Williams, but he could get shoved to the back burner (or even off the roster) if McCoy signs.
In my eyes, this looks like a huge hit for Damien Williams. I was thinking he was going to be a top-10 back. Now, I don’t think he should be one of the first 20 chosen. I am in the process of carefully splicing in all of the cuts and roster adjustments from Saturday. My initial expectation is that Williams will fall to around 25th among running backs in PPR scoring when I’m done with that process. McCoy will be about 45th. Thompson, I think, will be their third guy for now – a stash-type guy who might elevate into a larger role later in the year.
I think Damien Williams might still be a top-10 back in TD-only scoring. He should be their main goal-line option, and this offense scored 16 touchdowns on running plays last year.
—Ian Allan