Fantasy Football Impact: LeSean McCoy to the Buccaneers

The Buccaneers have signed LeSean McCoy, and further muddied their backfield for fantasy owners.

The running game was not great for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last year, and they’ve added another running back. According to multiple reports, LeSean McCoy is coming to Tampa Bay on a one-year deal worth a little over $1 million.

McCoy spent last season with Kansas City Chiefs. In 13 regular-season games he had 465 yards and four touchdowns on 101 carries (4.6 yards per carry) along with 28 catches for 181 yards and one score. Over the first four games had at least 80 total yards three times and averaged 11.6 fantasy points per game (non-PPR). But he faded after that and was not even active for the Super Bowl.

After a lost rookie season, Ronald Jones topped 1,000 total yards in 2019. But his much-lamented struggles in pass protection took on even great concern with the signing of Tom Brady, and the Buccaneers used a third-round pick on Vanderbilt running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn. Vaughn was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list this week, which may have been a factor in signing McCoy. Dare Ogunbowale had 35 receptions in a passing down role last year (just 11 carries), and he’s still around.

LeSean McCoy further clouds Buccaneers’ backfield

The Buccaneers’ backfield already promised to be a source of frustration for fantasy owners. Cases can be made to believe in Jones or Vaughn, with Ogunbowale on the radar in deeper PPR leagues. How McCoy has entered the mix, further diluting the pot. If one Tampa Bay back got the majority of the carries, naturally with a prominent goal-line role, they’d be in a prime spot. What has looked to primarily be a two-man timeshare has now become a three-man committee, assuming health (COVID-19 or otherwise) and setting aside any notion McCoy doesn’t stick all the way to Week 1.

Any standalone fantasy impact McCoy has at this point in his career is sure to be fleeting, and automatically hard to predict. He’s lined up to siphon production from Jones and/or Vaughn in Tampa Bay, and his greatest impact will be as an annoyance for anyone that drafts them (see Carlos Hyde-Chris Carson in Seattle).