The Kansas City Chiefs are treating LeSean McCoy as a forgettable player these days after stating they were saving for exactly this time of year.
It likely wasn’t until the injury report said that LeSean McCoy would miss practice on Wednesday (illness) that many fans even noticed that the running back had been missing in action for the Kansas City Chiefs. Over the last couple weeks, McCoy has been missing from the offense entirely, an interesting reality far removed from the reasons floated by the team that they were saving him for the stretch run.
Earlier this year, McCoy was leading the Chiefs running backs in production. Even in a part-time role, it was clear he still had the same juice that has placed him on the fringes of the Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, a couple key fumbles in games against the Indianapolis Colts and Green Bay Packers proved fatal in each case. Ever since Week 8, the date of the second turnover, McCoy has largely been a missing person.
In the first game following the Packers turnover, McCoy had a scant three carries against the Minnesota Vikings. He was an admittedly healthy scratch in Week 16 against the Chicago Bears, and he failed to play the following week as well. In fact, McCoy, who has been healthy until this week’s listed “illness,” hasn’t played an official snap in over a month. In the five games he was active before that, he averaged only 6 carries for just over 20 yards/game.
Head coach Andy Reid has emphasized the importance of keeping McCoy fresh for when it matters in moments when he’s been questioned about the veteran running back. However, the Chiefs are now firmly entrenched in that very stretch run yet never once turned to McCoy for a single carry in the team’s Divisional Round win over the Houston Texans. Given the way Damien Williams performed, it’s hard to really picture the Chiefs shifting gears without a good reason.
Basically, McCoy has been treated as a spare part without any ability to positively impact the offense. If he’s not being handed random scraps from the offense, then he’s not playing at all.
Through the first full half of the year, McCoy averaged 5.25 yards/carry and caught over 90 percent of all targets thrown his way (19 of 21). Those averages are stellar and were, by far, the best of any Chiefs running back in the first half of the year. Damien Williams is doing his typical winter burst, which has been wonderful to watch, but it doesn’t make sense to sideline Shady entirely—that is unless the team simply doesn’t trust him not to turn the ball over.
Will McCoy continue to sit in the Championship game? Will Reid pull out some unexpected magic in the Super Bowl? Is there a surprise factor here yet to be played or is McCoy really not able to be trusted? Only time will tell.