Tampa Bay signed LeSean McCoy yesterday, and there was a lot of unreasonable excitement about it. "Brady to Shady" talk, and people going around my dynasty leagues with active waiver wires exhuming his dusty body. Is the interest valid? I don't think so.
McCoy just turned 32, and the Bucs are essentially taking a free look-see. His one-year, $1 million contract is about as veteran's minimum as you get. It makes sense considering McCoy was a nonfactor in Kansas City last year, basically mothballed for their postseason run. He played one snap without touching the ball in the divisional round, was apparently a healthy scratch for the championship game (he showed up on the injury report with an "illness") and then was also inactive for the Super Bowl. Apparently a relative has claimed on Instagram he was hurt, but hey I'd stick up for a family member too.
The last time we actually saw McCoy on the field, in six games late last season prior to being inactive, he was averaging 3.3 yards per carry and 37 total yards per game. Wasn't a tough decision for Andy Reid to leave him out of the action while Damien Williams helped carry the team to a Super Bowl title.
| LESEAN MCCOY, LAST SIX GAMES | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opp | Att | Yds | Avg | No | Rec | TD |
| vs. G.B. | 9 | 40 | 4.4 | 4 | 23 | 0 |
| vs. Min. | 3 | 9 | 3.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| at LAC | 7 | 29 | 4.1 | 4 | 28 | 0 |
| vs. Oak. | 5 | 10 | 2.0 | 3 | 20 | 0 |
| at N.E. | 11 | 39 | 3.5 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| vs. Den. | 6 | 16 | 2.7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Avg | 7 | 24 | 3.3 | 2 | 13 | 0 |
What this signing is actually about, I think, is adding a veteran to the mix who perhaps the team (and Hall of Famer Tom Brady) is comfortable with in pass protection. Ronald Jones has caught 38 passes in 25 games. KeShawn Vaughn is a rookie (who by the way is currently sidelined on the COVID-19 list). Dare Ogunbowale is an undrafted guy whose claim to a roster spot last year was basically being better on third downs than Jones or Peyton Barber.
Keeping Brady in one piece is the most important job of the third-down back on this team, and McCoy has the most experience at it. Can he be the kind of producer in the passing game that James White (and all of Brady's other third-down backs the last two decades) was? I guess if you select McCoy, that's the hope. But it didn't work out for him in Kansas City last year. A year older, I don't see much reason to think things will be different.
Major fantasy takeaway from this signing is that McCoy is insurance for the possibility that neither Jones, Vaughn nor Ogunbowale is an asset in the passing game. Jones has never really done it, Vaughn's a rookie, Ogunbowale is just a guy. I think it makes both Vaughn and Ogunbowale virtually undraftable, and slightly hurts Jones. The plus there is that no one was terribly interested in drafting Jones anyway. I still think he's the likeliest starter in this backfield, and worth a selection about where we ranked him in the magazine (and now he'll likely be available a few rounds later than that). I will let someone else use picks on Vaughn and McCoy.
--Andy Richardson