Spend a mid-to-late-round pick on a back
There is no Saquon Barkley or Todd Gurley in the 2019 NFL Draft, and that is good news for Bills fans as they don’t have to worry about their team drafting a running back in the first round despite having multiple needs on the roster like in years past. Instead, this year has no real household names – and that is okay.
More and more we are seeing mid-to-late-round picks become starters for teams throughout the league.
Runnings backs such as Lamar Miller (fourth), David Johnson (third), Jordan Howard (fifth) Tarik Cohen (fourth), Phillip Lindsay (undrafted), Chris Carson (seventh), James White (fourth) and several others were all mid-to-late-round picks that have had successful seasons and careers.
While a lot of these players fit the schemes they play in extremely well, I have faith in Brian Daboll to find a running back to fit what he wants to do.
While there are no doubt more players who flame out of the league rather than are diamonds in the rough out of mid-round picks, you can’t win the lottery unless you buy a ticket. There will undoubtedly be running backs worth taking a flyer on in the draft that may have injury histories, bad years, are too small or come from small schools, but that should not stop the Bills from trying to find a fit for their growing offense.
Buffalo desperately needs new life in their backfield. Both McCoy and Ivory are 30 or over while Marcus Murphy is 27. Adding any sort of youth and/or depth is not a bad idea.
Players such as Bennie Snell Jr. (Kentucky), Myles Gaskin (Washington), Wes Hills (Slippery Rock) and Rodney Anderson (Oklahoma) are players that may not go high in the draft, but have production and are either considered non-NFL caliber running backs because of size, school size, speed or they are coming off an injury.
Taking a swing won’t cost you a lot but could pay off in the long run.