GM Beane thinks Buffalo will use “hot hand” approach at running back

The GM assumes that OC Brian Daboll will use his running backs based on who’s going well

Since the Buffalo Bills released veteran running back LeSean McCoy, the team has embraced a running-back-by-committee approach to its offensive backfield. After McCoy led the Bills in touches with 346 in 2017, his workload was reduced significantly in 2018, as he only touched the ball 195 times that year.

Granted, some of that reduction was due to injury, but the Bills also saw fit to give Chris Ivory 128 touches in 2018. The following year, Buffalo split their touches between Frank Gore and Devin Singletary nearly evenly, as Singletary had 180 touches and Gore had 179. In 2020, Singletary split touches with Zack Moss, as the former touched the ball 194 times and the latter managed 126 touches.

So it shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, that general manager Brandon Beane assumes that offensive coordinator Brian Daboll will go with a “hot hand” approach to his running backs in 2021. When asked a question about Devin Singletary, Beane replied, “[Singletary] had a really good rookie year, but for whatever reason last year it wasn’t the same.” While Beane noted that it “wasn’t all bad” in 2020 for Singletary, he said that the third-year back expected more out of himself last year.

Within the same answer, Beane noted that “whoever starts [at running back] will start, but Brian Daboll will go with the hot hand.” Beane discussed Zack Moss and his injuries from last season, noting that the second-year man had surgery and he is ready to play this summer.

While a backfield committee may not help your fantasy team, it should help the Bills to ensure that they have multiple fresh options to gash opposing defenses this season.