Reinvented Bills RB Devin Singletary Keeps Proving Himself Every Week
At some point late last season, the Buffalo Bills decided to shut the Motor off. Slowly but surely, running back Devin Singletary, their third-round draft pick from the year before, was being phased out of the offense.
Zack Moss, their third-round draft pick of 2020, was getting the football more. In a three-game stretch in December, he carried 38 times for 181 yards and a 4.8 average.
Then, after Moss landed on the injured reserve list following their first playoff game, Singletary couldn't capitalize when they turned back to him.
His drop of a swing pass that could have gone for big yardage or a score that would have put them up by more than one touchdown against Kansas City in the AFC Championship Game sort of encapsulated his season and his two-year career to that point.
Singletary never played poorly enough to be jettisoned but never quite well enough to make the top job his.
Flash forward to Sunday: The 5-foot-7, 205-pound back came through with career highs of 23 carries, 110 yards and two touchdowns on a day when the Bills struggled to move the ball with their customary explosive passing attack. The result was a 29-15 win over Atlanta that clinched a playoff berth and moved the Bills one step closer to their second consecutive AFC East crown.
Whatever trust that may have been lost or in doubt is no longer in question.
Just listen to quarterback Josh Allen.
"I urge you guys to watch him on every single play, whether he’s got the ball or not," Allen said. “He continues to go find work down the field, follow the ball, pick up guys when on the ground, and that’s how you should play the game of football."
Added center Mitch Morse: "He's made our lives a lot easier. I think there were some muddy holes in there and he made us right a few times. ... When you finish a play, he’s the first one to pick you up even if he’s the one who had the big gainer. That’s just something that fuels an offense, a guy that trusts you and you trust them, and it’s great to see him have success these last few weeks."
Singletary has put himself in position to atone for that drop and a whole lot more. He clearly has earned a promotion to the next grade in the NFL after being on academic probation for the better part of two years.
With one game to go, Singletary has accumulated career highs of 169 carries, 782 yards, six TDs and 38 receptions.
His 2021 offseason regimen set the whole transformation in motion.
Literally.
Working with renowned running backs guru Nick Hicks, he added power and stamina. Even speed.
He sharpened every tool in his box in addition to adding some that weren't there.
"He has completely dominated the offseason," Hicks told golongtd.com last spring. "He’s so much faster, so much more explosive. He’s got all the shakes. He’s got all the agilities. He’s got all of the jukes. But he didn’t have the burst. He was lacking that."
The Bills experimented with Singletary, Matt Breida and Moss at times this season before finally identifying Singletary as the most talented and, perhaps more important, most dependable.
The man nicknamed Motor is running at full capacity for the first time in his third pro season. And it sure feels ... liberating.
"I just felt like all the hard work that I've been putting in, it’s paying off,” Singletary said after Sunday's win. "... We definitely got in a groove when we needed to and made it count."
Singletary kept crediting his teammates, especially the offensive line, for making it all possible. But none of it would have been possible if he didn't take that first step to ensure he'd still be a big part of the team this year.
Singletary may never be a "feature" back because coach Sean McDermott reacts to that word like it's spelled with four letters. But Sunday's game showed they're not afraid to lean on their tiniest player when the stakes are the highest.
That's more than good enough for Singletary, who finally is more than good enough to handle whatever they throw at him.
Nick Fierro is the publisher of Bills Central. Check out the latest Bills news at www.si.com/nfl/bills and follow Fierro on Twitter at @NickFierro. Email to Nicky300@aol.com.
