Conflicting reports emerged on Wednesday as to the status of new Buffalo Bills No. 1 running back LeSean McCoy, which could potentially make the team's surprise decision to part ways with veteran ballcarrier Fred Jackson earlier this week look all the more questionable. ESPN's Josina Anderson reported that despite the team's insistence that McCoy will be able to return from the hamstring injury he suffered during training camp quickly enough to ensure that he'll be on the field for the Bills Week One matchup against the Indianapolis Colts, that may not, in fact, be the case. Per Anderson's source, McCoy is "not even close" to being full speed, indicating that the former Eagle tailback has missed so much training time that there's "no way he can be in great football shape," by the time Sep. 13 rolls around.
Anderson's source went on to say that, "hell yes, I'm concerned about that.
"I can't say for sure he's going to be with us Week 1," the source told Anderson. "I can't say that at all. It will take everything we got just to get him ready for game day, and then we get to game day (there's) no way he can be in great football shape. So I think he will be on a pitch count, I think at the very best."
Interestingly though, shortly after Anderson's report was published, Pro Football Talk reported that a league source had indicated that McCoy is "confident" he'll be good to go for Week One. That's a fairly tepid response to Anderson's story, which seems to paint a much more realistic picture of McCoy's timeline to return from the hamstring injury that has robbed him of a majority of Buffalo's training camp. With Jackson gone and McCoy possible down, lead back duties would likely fall to Anthony Dixon and/or Bryce Brown.
It will be intriguing to see whether new Bills head coach Rex Ryan pushes McCoy back onto the field fast or whether he lets his "Ferrari" take extra time to heal.
