In one of the most surprising moves of the summer, the Buffalo Bills have released running back Karlos Williams.
Williams, a fifth-round pick of the Bills last year, racked up 613 total yards while scoring nine touchdowns and averaging a whopping 5.6 yards per attempt as a rookie in 2015.
Though, Williams was plagued by concerns over his conditioning and weight following a tremendous rookie season. Add in the four-game suspension he received for violating the league's substance abuse policy, and it became apparent that he was falling out of favor in Bufflalo.
With Williams now out of the mix, veteran Reggie Bush — just signed earlier this month — figures to be a lock to make the 53-man roster. He'll be joined by lead back LeSean McCoy as well as youngsters Mike Gillislee and Jonathan Williams as the four running backs making up the team's depth chart.
Buffalo's running back situation in and of itself is interesting from a fantasy perspective. Despite using multiple running backs to shoulder the load last season, Buffalo ranked first overall on the ground, averaging 152 yards per game and a ridiculous 4.8 yards per attempt.
With Williams no longer in the mix, it stands to reason that McCoy will shoulder a heavier load this upcoming season. The veteran struggled with injuries and consistency in his first season with the Bills, but was still able to finish as the 16th-best fantasy running back. This despite the fact that he only attempted 203 runs during the season. We can surely expect that number to increase to 300-plus should McCoy remain healthy this year.
With an ADP that has him as the 12th running back off the board, McCoy represents tremendous value heading into the late-summer drafts.
On the other hand, it's really going to be hard to gauge where the other three running backs stand here. On the surface, Bush could act as a solid PPR option like we've seen multiple times in the past. Though, he's missed 16 games over the past two seasons. At 31 years old and clearly past his prime, it remains to be seen whether Bush will ever be a relevant running back in the NFL again.
It's in this, that the release of Williams really only impacts McCoy's value moving forward. We have absolutely no idea how the running back situation is going to play out behind him. What we do know is that Buffalo just let go of the only player that could really handcuff McCoy this season. That in and of itself increases his value a great deal.