The Buffalo Bills have revamped their offensive personnel under new head coach Rex Ryan. Despite not having a legitimate starting quarterback, the Bills have added running back LeSean McCoy, wide receiver Percy Harvin and tight end Charles Clay this offseason. They will all pair with impressive second-year receiver Sammy Watkins. Even with all of these fancy new toys, Ryan has said that the team will not stray from his rush-based offensive attack.
"We prefer to ground and pound it, we're going to run it 50 times if we can on you," Ryan said last week, according to the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle.
To do that, though, Ryan and offensive coordinator Greg Roman will have to utilize all of their offensive weapons. A McCoy rush up the middle over and over again won't fool anyone.
"We're not naïve enough to think we're going to be able to get away with that," Ryan said. "We can spread you out and create some nightmares in coverage. If you want to stop our run by keeping all the big guys in there, so be it, we'll be able to hurt you in a lot of different ways outside."
With all of this change, it's fair for fantasy football owners to wonder how McCoy will fare with this new team. His production will largely depend on how well Buffalo's offensive line plays.
"LeSean McCoy, a year removed from posting the second-highest PFF run grade in the years since we started grading, moves on to Buffalo, where a new staff and a much less friendly running environment await," Rick Drummond of Pro Football Focus wrote. "With C.J. Spiller headed out as a free agent and Fred Jackson another year older, McCoy instantly becomes the feature piece in the Bills' backfield, but the move puts even more focus on the Buffalo O-line. In as wide a swing as could be made, McCoy leaves an offense that boasted PFF's top-graded run-blocking O-line in 2014 to run behind the group rated last in the league. An excellent player in space, McCoy's impact will be severely limited by that questionable front line and it'll take more than an impressive comeback by Richie Incognito to get the group in shape."
McCoy is still an elite talent at a thin position in fantasy. However, he is no longer the consensus top-five pick that he was in Philly. Buffalo's shaky offensive line casts serious doubts about McCoy's fantasy prospects in 2015. The team's lack of a QB also hurts McCoy as a pass catcher. Overall, he's fallen to a late first-round pick thanks to the move to Buffalo.
