The Bills caught a brief glimpse of Willis McGahee?s potential last season, but his success has been sidetracked by the Bills offseason moves at quarterback. Sure having a secure solution at quarterback is the key to a winning team, but the backbone of success all rides on the shoulders of the running back.

It?s inevitable that Travis Henry will be traded before the April NFL Draft. Henry wants out and there are plenty of NFL teams inquiring about his talents. With that in mind that?s going to mean the sole duties of running the football are going to be pinned on McGahee.

Flashing back to two years ago, McGahee was drafted by the Bills as a project first round choice. He was coming off one of the most severe injuries a back can suffer and everyone saw it live on national television against the Buckeyes. Tearing out three ligaments in a knee will set any player back dramatically, but the recovery period is different for all athletes.

Still going into the 2004 season the Bills plans were to work McGahee and Henry evenly. The first five weeks of the season saw Henry and McGahee split the carries around a 70-30 ratio. Henry was a Pro Bowl back and didn?t show any reason not to keep the starting job. Once Henry went down though, it opened the door for the Bills to roll out the carpet for McGahee.

In most cases a running back will tell you that a serious knee injury can take up to two years to fully recover from. The Bills would have been wise to utilize Joe Burns more than they did, because the initial stress put on McGahee hurt him down the stretch with relative minor injuries*. Weeks eight and nine he had over thirty carries each game, including a season high thirty seven. That?s mind boggling that the Bills would wear him down like that, but he is a young back that?s expected to heal in the off season right?

Wrong, how many times have we seen backs carry the load and have a successful campaign, and then the next year have a serious injury? It?s happened to the best of them including Terrell Davis, Jamal Anderson, and last year Stephen Davis. Ricky Williams could have been added to that list the way Miami was working him to death, but now we will never know. The fact of the matter is, the Bills aren?t as secure at running back as they?d like to think.

The average back in the NFL lasts five to six seasons, but McGahee isn?t an average back. He has had more than his fair share of injuries in high school and college, and one more could set him back for good. With Henry out of the picture, where would Buffalo look to if McGahee were to go down?

To be a team on another level you need great athletes on the field, and an athlete that isn?t that far off as a backup. Over the last five years in the NFL, that has showed more than ever. Look at Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New England, and Atlanta, what do they all have in common? Well all went to their conference championship games, and all have deep backfields. Philadelphia has Correll Buckhalter and Brian Westbrook, the Steelers Bettis and Staley, New England-Corey Dillon and Kevin Faulk, and the Falcons with TJ Duckett and Warrick Dunn.

Another note to take down is that every one of those teams had to rely on one back when another went down during the season. Staley was out for an extended period of time, Warrick Dunn missed a stretch, Buckhalter went down in preseason, and Dillon only missed one game, but one game was the difference in Buffalo not making the playoffs this past season.

Buffalo better make sure the right offer is on the table for Henry, as they?ll need to use that draft pick or sign a backup to McGahee. With all the talent in the draft at running back, the Bills should be able to find a gem within the first three to four rounds.