Saturday was a bad day for LeSean McCoy. It got a whole lot better on Sunday.
McCoy was released by the Bills on Saturday, but he wasn't out of work for long. Early Sunday morning, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that McCoy was signing a one-year, $4 million contract with the Chiefs, including $3 million guaranteed.
McCoy will be reunited with Andy Reid in Kansas City. Reid coached McCoy in Philadelphia for the first four years of his career. More on that in a moment.
With this reunion, the Chiefs backfield becomes a mess. McCoy, 31, joins Damien Williams and Darwin Thompson as the main running backs in Kansas City. In case you missed it, Carlos Hyde was traded Saturday to the Texans in exchange for guard Martinas Rankin.
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While Williams should remain the starter, the contract situation for him and McCoy is noteworthy. Williams signed a two-year extension in December for $5.1 million, but he only has $1.6 million guaranteed, which is clearly less than what McCoy is making.
The money doesn't always matter, but this seems like McCoy is coming in for a significant role. And that stinks for all parties concerned when it comes to their Fantasy value.
Williams' Average Draft Position on CBS Sports as of Saturday was late Round 2 as the No. 24 overall player off the board. He should still be the first Chiefs running back drafted, but the earliest you should select him now is Round 4 in PPR and Round 5 in non-PPR leagues.
I still expect Williams to lead this backfield in touches if he remains healthy, but he already battled a hamstring injury in training camp that kept him out for a week. And it's clear by this signing that Reid and the front office weren't fully comfortable with Williams in the No. 1 role. We'll see if he can prove them wrong.
McCoy's ADP had him going in Round 10 prior to joining the Chiefs, and anyone who drafted him in that range has to be excited. While he was expected to be the lead rusher in Buffalo, he was always going to share work. And you'd much rather be in a timeshare with the Chiefs than the Bills.
We'll see if Reid can help McCoy bounce back from a down year in 2018. McCoy was miserable last year in Buffalo with 161 carries for 514 yards and three touchdowns, as well as 34 catches for 238 yards.
It was his fewest rushing yards since his rookie season in 2009, and his 3.2 yards per carry was also a career low. He was rumored to get cut this offseason, but the Bills waited until Saturday, leaving their backfield to rookie Devin Singletary, as well as Frank Gore and T.J. Yeldon.
McCoy has to be excited to play for Reid again, and he apparently turned down a similar offer to sign with the Chargers. Some of McCoy's best years came with Reid in Philadelphia, which probably led to this reunion.
In 2010, McCoy had more than 1,600 total yards and nine touchdowns, along with 78 receptions, while averaging 5.2 yards per carry. He followed that up with another 1,600 total yards, 20 touchdowns and 48 receptions in 2011, while also averaging 4.8 yards per carry.
McCoy had over 280 total touches in each of those two seasons, but he won't come close to that workload with the Chiefs, barring an injury to Williams and likely Thompson as well. Now, the earliest you should draft McCoy is Round 8 in all leagues, but you don't have to reach for him.
You should draft McCoy ahead of Thompson now. We've seen Thompson's ADP on the rise over the past several weeks when it appeared he would be the No. 2 running back in Kansas City. He was up to Round 9 as of Saturday, but his value is now on the decline in seasonal leagues. The earliest I would consider drafting Thompson now is Round 12.
He could still get some playing time on a weekly basis, but you have to assume he'll be third on the depth chart behind Williams and McCoy. I'm not happy about it since I already have many shares of Thompson in several leagues, but the Chiefs wanted to bolster their backfield with a familiar face to Reid.
We'll see what McCoy can do and the impact it has on Williams and Thompson. I'm still hopeful Williams can be a low-end starting option, but his ceiling came crashing down early Sunday morning with McCoy headed to Kansas City.
