Fantasy Football Reaction: If Bills without LeSean McCoy, hand ball to Mike Gillislee for Week 7

LeSean McCoy might miss Week 7 -- at least! -- so what should Fantasy owners expect from the Bills backfield?

Week 7 Rankings: Standard | PPR

The Bills have been able to work Mike Gillislee into the rotation at running back in the past few weeks, but they might need to lean on him heavily in Week 7 against the Dolphins if LeSean McCoy misses Sunday's game with a hamstring injury, as ESPN is reporting.

Other reports have McCoy still a 50-50 chance to play Sunday in Miami.

Bills coach Rex Ryan told reporters Thursday he was still hopeful McCoy could play, but McCoy could be ruled out on Friday's injury report after missing the first two days of practice this week with the injury.

The more concerning thing here might be that ESPN.com's report indicates he could miss further time beyond Week 7. That would be a big blow for Fantasy players because McCoy has ripped off huge gain after huge gain in re-emerging as one of the premiere backs in the league.

Hopefully, you already had Gillislee if you were a McCoy owner. If not, let's hope he isn't already owned, because you need to go get him right now. The 26-year-old has made the most of his opportunities so far this season, rushing for 116 yards on 17 attempts, with touchdowns the past two weeks.

This would be just the second start of Gillislee's NFL career. He rushed for only 28 yards on 24 carries in Week 17 against the Jets last season. However, he has shown in more limited spurts the ability to break off big plays. He closed out last week's game against the 49ers with a 44-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter as he picked up where McCoy left off.

That was the third carry of at least 40 yards in Gillislee's career, and his five rushing touchdowns have gone for an average of 35.6 yards. The Bills have relied on McCoy heavily for the big-play spark with Sammy Watkins injured, so Gillislee has at least given them a sign he can provide some of that as well.

Still, you shouldn't expect the 5.8 career yards per carry to represent Gillislee's expected performance moving forward. He has been a featured back just once, after all. It's a lot harder to say how he will manage as the go-to guy, rather than coming into games in favorable situations.

It is worth noting, the Dolphins could be a favorite matchup for the former University of Florida star. They are allowing 4.5 yards per carry on the season, and rank just 24th in FootballOutsiders.com's rush defense DVOA stat. This unit had a decent showing against the Steelers last week, but it's hard to expect them to keep that up. Gillislee should have room to operate this week.

In the long run, we would rather see McCoy back as soon as possible. He's a more proven player, and was in the midst of a bounce-back season. This is a pretty big concern moving forward, however, as McCoy deal with a hamstring injury that hampered him in preseason a year ago, and this is the kind of injury that tends to linger if you don't let it heal right -- just ask Doug Martin.

Gillislee should be a staring-caliber Fantasy running back as long as McCoy is out, and rookie Jonathan Williams and even veteran Reggie Bush could also see some playing time this week ... And that might be more than one week with the way it sounds right now.