Should the Bills Draft a RB early this year?

The Buffalo Bills have been linked to RB prospects year after year. From Travis Etienne to Najee Harris to Breece Hall, both fans and media clamor for the Bills to take a RB in the first round every year. With this year being no different, will they do it?

The RB discussion hasn’t died down this year, and some fans want the Bills to take Bijan Robinson. But with James Cook, Nyheim Hines, and Damien Harris already in the backfield, this may not be the year the Bills actually pull the trigger. They have bigger holes to fill than RB.

The Bills don’t run the ball enough for three or four RBs to make a meaningful impact consistently. Last year, James Cook rushed the ball 89 times, Devin Singletary rushed it 177 times. It’s also worth noting that Josh Allen ran the ball 124 times last year. In order to make drafting Bijan Robinson or any early round rookie RB worthwhile, the Bills would have to give them the ball. That would lead to less opportunities for Cook, Harris, Hines, and even Allen. And I don’t think Brandon Beane will give up on Nyheim Hines just yet.

Adding somebody in the late rounds, who won’t take touches away from Cook/Harris this year would make much more sense. The team has met with a couple RBs that could go day two (UCLA’s Zach Charbonnet) to day three (TCU’s Kendre Miller).

I get wanting to improve the running game. I think everybody would agree it needs to improve to help out Josh Allen a little bit more. But there are better ways to fix it than putting a high pick RB behind an OL that is still shaky on paper. The Buffalo Bills have the talent in the backfield to make the run game work. It’s just a matter of improving the run blocking enough so the RBs can be effective consistently.

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