05/19/2019
Monitor Carefully: Kansas City Chiefs Backfield
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After the departure of running back Kareem Hunt, the Chiefs Organization were eager to find the replacement for the explosive and versatile back. In which they found running back Damien Williams, who truthfully never had an opportunity to be a lead back in his first 4 seasons with the Miami Dolphins. When given such an opportunity, Williams did not disappoint, racking up a total of 572 total yards from scrimmage and 8 total touchdowns during the five games he started. The Chiefs seemed to have struck pay-dirt with Williams. In which I can very much understand why. I absolutely loved his late-season performance and believed he could really hold down the fort as the Chiefs main back. A lot of other fantasy/sports writers would agree...
But on May 9th, the Chiefs organization signed running back Carlos Hyde to a one-year, $2.8 million deal. This made me need to take a step back and reevaluate the backfield situation in Kansas City. Hyde is a very talent running back, an incredible mix of power and speed. And when healthy Hyde showed he could perform at an all-pro level. Unfortunately for Hyde he has been both injury-prone and involved in rebuilding seasons with multiple teams (San Francisco, Cleveland Browns and Jacksonville Jaguars). A lot of analysts are saying that Hyde is on the outside looking in for the Chiefs 53-man roster, mostly due to his “history as a receiver”. My response to this is, “Did you see who was passing him the ball?” Between 2014 to 2018 Hyde had Colin Kaepernick, Blaine Gabbert, Brian Hoyer, CJ Beathard, Jimmy Garoppolo, and Blake Bortles starting under center… All of those quarterbacks (other than Garoppolo) are back-up quarterbacks at best who have accuracy problems. Now imagine what Hyde could do in one of the most efficient offenses in the league with quarterback Patrick Mahomes under center. If he can outperform Damien Williams during the preseason and earn himself the starting spot, we could seem Hyde rejuvenate his career in Kansas City.
In summary, feel comfortable drafting Damien Williams as a RB2 in the 4th-5th rounds with obvious Elite RB1 upside, but in doing so you need handcuff him with Carlos Hyde as a safety net on your investment.
