NFL: Breaking down the 2015 Buffalo Bills

Running Back

Starters: LeSean McCoy, Fred Jackson

Depth: Anthony Dixon, Bryce Brown, Karlos Williams (rookie), Corey Knox

While LeSean McCoy and Fred Jackson will both get starts and plenty of carries—considering Rex Ryan is looking to run the heck out of the ball, there will be plenty of carries—this will be McCoy’s offense.

The run game is critical to the offense because the quarterbacks here aren’t fantastic.

McCoy looked terrible for much of last season, running hesitantly, trying to stretch too many runs outside and generally looking like he had lost a few steps. Early on the injured offensive line was somewhat to blame, but when it got healthy, McCoy still had issues. His struggles, his frustration with Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly’s offense and his contract (and contract demands) forced the Eagles to ship him north to Buffalo.

He’s behind a decent offensive line, but there are a few things working against him. First, he’s facing stacked boxes because nobody is going to be afraid of whichever guy lands at quarterback. The receivers have some hop to them, but they’ll be held back by the quarterback play as well. So expect McCoy to see stacked fronts, which will slow him down.

Secondly, McCoy just looked off last season and it is fair to wonder if something is wrong. At 26 it’s hard to imagine his ability already falling off, but it’s fair to wonder what happened last season. He’ll get all the opportunity in the world to prove to everyone he’s OK as Ryan recently told WGR 550-AM radio that this team will “run 50 times” if they can.

Over the last few years, Fred Jackson has taken on a pretty big workload, but McCoy should get his goal-line duties back and the Bills perceive him as an every-down back, so Jackson will see his carries and numbers curtailed. He should continue to be effective in bursts though, and he is a nice backup to McCoy.

Bryce Brown was thought to be next in line for when CJ Spiller left, but there’s a good chance that won’t happen now, and Brown was prone to really dumb mental errors and doesn’t protect the ball well, so he might not even make the roster. Anthony Dixon is a decent backup, but like Brown could find himself off the roster. Rookie Karlos Williams is a developmental guy with only two years’ experience as a running back, having converted from safety. He runs an incredibly fast 40 for a guy who weighs 230 pounds, but that’s all he does. He doesn’t run well between the tackles, isn’t really all that adept at reading his lanes and runs terribly stiff.

Corey Knox is an unimpressive runner who has yet to take part in anything but special teams. He’ll be gone by the end of camp if not before.

Overall this is a top heavy group—with McCoy as the lead and Jackson as a solid backup. After those two though, there’s not much depth.

Next: Wide Receivers—Tight Ends