The Buffalo Bills just signed running back T.J. Yeldon to a two year deal:
https://twitter.com/buffalobills/status/1120303748482568192
With the signing, the Bills now have three very good backs on their roster, including LeSean McCoy and Frank Gore. But do the Bills have room for all three? Let's take a look at how they've ran their offense the past couple of years.
Continued on the pages below:
Snap Counts
In 2018, the Bills had more of a timeshare at running back that they've had in years past. McCoy led the way with 46.27% of the snaps, followed by Chris Ivory with 28.33%, Marcus Murphy with 18.51%, and fullback Patrick DiMarco with 15.86%.
McCoy dominated the snaps in 2017 with 68.35%, the next closest was DiMarco with 25.19%.
The key difference in the snap counts is the change in offensive coordinator. Brian Daboll took over the job for the Bills after being at the University of Alabama as their offensive coordinator. At Alabama, any player who had more than 20 carries, held an average yards per carry rate of over 4.5 yards under Daboll. The team had 43.7 attempts per game for an average of 5.7 yards per carry. Daboll knew how to spread the ball amongst his backs and he brought that mentality to Buffalo.
However, in 2018 he did it primarily with two running backs, McCoy and Ivory. The team released Ivory at the end of March, largely due to the signing of Frank Gore earlier that month. This signaled to many people that McCoy and Gore were going to see the bulk of the carries in 2019.
The signing of Yeldon complicates that thought, however. Yeldon and McCoy have a similar skillset.
Yeldon is a career 4.0 yards per carry runner, McCoy has a 4.5 YPC average.
In his four years with Buffalo, McCoy has averaged 43.8 receptions per season. Yeldon has averaged 42.8 in his four years with Jacksonville.
If the Bills were so set on using a three-back rotation, why get a back that's similar to how McCoy plays? Are they convinced a certain team will come calling Thursday night?
Eagles reunion coming?
There are dozens of mock drafts out there with a plethora of picks that the Eagles will be making throughout the seven rounds.
Popular running back picks have been Josh Jacobs, Miles Sanders, Darrell Henderson, and Devin Singletary. But what happens if the Eagles decide to pass on those running backs and address other areas?
There's plenty of talk that the Eagles will be addressing the defensive side of the ball in the first round and will target Miles Sanders in the second round. But Sanders' stock is quickly rising and the Eagles may miss out of him by the time their first second-round pick comes along. The pick of Sanders may set off a domino effect of teams picking the top tier running backs, leaving the Eagles to select players for other positions of need.
However, if the fifth round comes along, and the Eagles don't have a running back to complement new member of the midnight green Jordan Howard, is it too farfetched for the team to send their fifth-round pick to Buffalo for McCoy?
The Bills may be waiting for that opportunity to come up. Their leading rusher last year was quarterback Josh Allen. McCoy averaged a career-low 3.2 yards per carry, way down from his previous low of 4.0. These factors may lead to the Bills giving Gore the lead job, who averaged 4.6 yards per carry in 2018, let Yeldon play the McCoy role, and recoup some draft picks to gain some youth in the running back group.
A McCoy-Eagles reunion makes too much sense if the Eagles miss out on the draft's top tier running backs. Don't be surprised if another old face is back in midnight green come Saturday afternoon.
Don't forget to get your mock drafts into our first annual PhillySportsNetwork contest!
