When former New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan arrived in Buffalo a year and a half ago, he brought with him his philosophy of ground and pound, with running backs being a key component to his strategy.
The man who will carry most of the load for the Bills will be LeSean McCoy, who was picked up in a trade back in February of 2015 with the Philadelphia Eagles for linebacker Kiko Alonso. While Alonso has since moved on to the Miami Dolphins, McCoy has remained one of the biggest names on the team.
In twelve games last season, McCoy had 895 rushing yards, which included three touchdowns. Even though McCoy has been affected by injuries, if he can stay healthy all season long, there is no doubt the already big impact he makes on the team will be even greater.
Last week the Bills added newcomer and Super Bowl XLIV champion Reggie Bush. Since winning back in 2009 with the New Orleans Saints, the 31-year-old has bounced around with a few teams, such as the Miami Dolphins, Detroit Lions, and San Francisco 49ers. Also plagued by injury Bush is most recently coming back from a knee injury. Last season, he only played in five games, not getting any touchdowns and only getting a total of 28 yards. The year before with the Lions, he played eleven games, getting a total of 297 yards with two touchdowns. If he can stay healthy as well, a one-two punch of McCoy and Bush would be something that opposing teams would not want to deal with.
Karlos Williams had a pretty good first season for the Bills coming out of Florida State University. He had at least one touchdown in his first six games, which ties former New England Patriot Robert Edwards. He will not start the season, however, as he was suspended four games by the NFL for violating the NFL Policy and Program for Substances of Abuse. Bush is expected to take over for Williams during his four game absence, and how Bush does might determine the order for the rest of the season on who will be backing up McCoy during games. Last season, Williams ended up with 517 rushing yards and seven touchdowns in eleven games played.
While it’s likely McCoy, Bush and Williams will make the team, the question becomes, who rounds out the running backs after that. In training camp, the Bills also have the following players taking reps: Dan “Boom” Herron; Mike Gillislee; Glenn Gronkowski and Jerome Felton, who are also considered fullbacks; Jonathan Williams; and James Wilder Jr.Herron, Gillislee, and Felton all played for the Bills last season after having stints with other teams, while Gronkowski was signed as an undrafted free agent and Wilder Jr. was on the practice squad for the Cincinnati Bengals. Overall, it is unknown how many running backs the Bills will choose to go with, but they certainly have a lot of choices to round out the roster. Whoever the Bills choose, those running backs will be relied upon to carry a big load of the offense starting this September.
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