This offseason the Buffalo Bills front office should look to bring in another running back to build a running back by committee to maximize Devin Singletary’s abilities over the course of a full season.
The news this week that the Buffalo Bills are unlikely to bring back Frank Gore, as reported by Matthew Fairburn of The Athletic, means the team will have changes at the running back position in 2020.
The expectation is that Devin Singletary is going to be the guy at the position in 2020 and beyond after a stellar rookie season. This past year he had 775 rushing yards, 194 receiving yards and four total touchdowns. However, if the front office wants to maximize Devin Singletary in this offense, they need to find another running back that can help form a running back by committee.
Now this may sound counter-intuitive because the general expectation would be if Devin Singletary gets more carries and more touches, then his numbers should go up. Certainly that will likely be the case but at some point there is diminishing returns. The last thing the coaching staff wants to do is run the young running back into the ground and he struggles towards the end of the season.
This past season as a rookie, Singletary saw a drop in production in games that he received 11 or more carries. On carries 1-10 in a game, Singletary averaged 5.7 yards per carry but on carries number 11-20 his average yards per carry dropped to 4.2 yards.
While Devin Singletary can run with some power, he is not a big back at 5’11” and 203 pounds. Those hits over time start to take a toll on him and he begins to slow down. This is why Brandon Beane and the front office need to find a back that can split the workload with him.
While running back by committees have a bad name, especially in fantasy football, there has been some examples of it being very effective. This past season the Los Angeles Chargers did an excellent job balancing the workload between Melvin Gordon and Austin Ekeler but both were still effective.
There is no reason not to think that Devin Singletary could be a better Ekeler but the front office must find that Melvin Gordon. A back who may not be as dynamic as Singletary but can do some of the work to grind down a defense that allows Singletary to exploit his big play ability.
The running back position may not be one top of mind for the Buffalo Bills but there is almost guaranteed to be changes going into 2020. This is the time to create that dynamic 1-2 punch that keeps Devin Singletary healthy and fresh but also provides a safety net for injuries.