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The Buffalo Bills were confident enough to let running back LeSean McCoy go ahead of the 2019 season. Many were curious as to why. But once rookie rusher Devin Singletary took off, nobody questioned it.
McCoy is talented and was a elite player at making defenders miss. As McCoy would say, he could “cut on a dime.” Well, so can Singletary we eventually found out, and the Bills will hopefully have that skill in their backfield a long, long time.
Digging deeper into that, the Bills really, really hope Singletary continues to show on the field that he’s elite in one Pro Football Focus statistic throughout his career. That statistic is causing defenders to miss.
The football analytics outlet released a list of the top running backs at causing missed tackles in the NFL in 2019. Singletary’s is among, and above, some of the best in the entire league. Per PFF, Singletary caused the third-most missed tackles on average in 2019, a total of 0.24 missed tackles per attempt.
The only two rushers ahead of Singletary’s output was the Saints’ Alvin Kamara (0.25) and the Raiders’ Josh Jacobs (0.29). Running backs Singletary outranks includes the Chargers’ Austin Ekeler at 0.23, while a tie at 0.22 is found between the Browns’ Nick Chubb and Seahawks’ Chris Carson.
Those are all some of the best in the business. But could things be even better for the Bills as a team in this category next season? Some signs are pointing to yes.
After hitting on Singletary in the third round of the 2019 draft, the Bills made it back-to-back rushers in that round in 2020. Buffalo grabbed Zack Moss. Both of these guys are elite at breaking tackles in their own right. Moss was among the best ankle-breakers in college football during his entire career at Utah. Per PFF: “Moss has a similar college profile as Singletary, ranking just above him with 0.30 missed tackles forced per attempt during his college career.”
This duo could cause some stacked boxes by opposing defenses against them in 2020, or maybe because of Stefon Diggs will cause the opposite. If you follow, you can see there’s reason for excitement and optimism in regard to the Bills offense in 2020.
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