LeSean McCoy Is a Fantasy Football Value

For the majority of his career, LeSean McCoy has been a high draft pick in fantasy football leagues. The chart below shows his average draft position (ADP) in standard scoring leagues according to fantasyfootballcalculator.com since 2011.

It is easy to look at these numbers and believe that McCoy is approaching the inevitable "running back cliff" that many veteran running backs hit towards the end of their careers. However, after diving further into his production from last year and his situation in 2016, McCoy may simply be discounted.

The Advanced Metrics

Net Expected Points (or NEP) is a metric used here at numberFire that shows how many points a player contributes for their team in any given situation. For example, a 9-yard run on 3rd-and-8 has a much greater impact on the team's chances of scoring than a 9-yard run on 3rd-and-10. NEP accounts for this difference to show that all yards just aren't created equal.

You can read more about NEP in our glossary.

Here's a look at McCoy's Rushing NEP per rush numbers through the years, along with his rank among backs with 200 or more carries.

There are two main takeaways from the chart above.

First, of the running backs with greater than 200 carries in a season since 2011, McCoy has consistently been ranked towards the top according to the NEP per rush metric. The outlier season is 2012, which was the season that was shortened by a concussion. He proved that season to be a fluke by coming back strong in the 2013 season.

Second, the total number of running backs with greater than 200 carries has been steadily decreasing, which makes owning one in fantasy football all that much more valuable. The only season that McCoy failed to produce 200 carries was his rookie year in 2009.

Opportunity

Speaking of opportunity, during Rex Ryan's press conference when he was introduced as the Buffalo Bills new head coach, he said he wanted to implement a "ground and pound" offensive system. Many view this as simple "coachspeak" that can be dismissed as meaningless. But statistics show that a Rex Ryan coached team will consistently rank towards the top of the league in rushing attempts.

Competition

Most fantasy football players are aware that Karlos Williams had a successful 2015 campaign. Some fear that his production may reduce the value of McCoy in 2016.

Not so fast.

Given the number of rushing attempts that a Rex Ryan offense historically has, there will be plenty of opportunity for McCoy to succeed even if Williams averages 8 to 12 touches a game. McCoy should have no issue exceeding 220 or more carries in 2016, even with only a little over half the backfield share.

Second, it's been reported by The Buffalo News that Williams reported to minicamp in June overweight -- the latest estimates by The Buffalo News are that he was 20 to 25 pounds overweight. It's worth keeping an eye on to see what shape he is in when training camp starts in a few weeks. We all remember the weight issues that Eddie Lacy had last year that led to on-field struggles.

Injury Concerns

The main reason McCoy's ADP has fallen -- more than likely, at least -- in 2016 drafts is because of the injuries he battled last year. These are overstated, though, as he has only missed eight games over the last five regular seasons. To further prove this point, Sports Injury Predictor lists McCoy as a low injury risk heading into the 2016 season.

So What?

As my final takeaway for you, I'll leave you with this chart showing the week-to-week consistency that McCoy has provided fantasy owners over the past three seasons using standard scoring, obtained from fftoday.com.

The days of McCoy being a top tier fantasy running back might be over, but he still has strong value in the mid- to late-second round as a high-floor option.