It's not as much of an endorsement of Williams as it is a criticism of Hyde. I can definitely see them drafting a RB high in the draft, or sign a high profile FA, and then Williams owners should worry. Hyde? Not so much.
The chiefs have 2 rbs signed. They'll likely go into the season with either 3 or 4.
So the question for williams is who they bring in, not whether they bring someone in.
We also have incomplete information about how the chiefs view their rb situation. We know veach said he liked williams as a "borderline starter" who was miscast as a backup/ role player when they brought him in last year. We know he was third on the depth chart behind ware. We know the chiefs were aware of the hunt incident and had reason to believe that they might have to use ware and williams. We know that the chiefs signed williams to an extension almost immediately after a couple good starts, and that williams' performance improved from there. We know williams put up nearly identical numbers to hunt as a starter. We know that veach said it was "his job to lose" a week or so ago.
Those are all positive signs that he may be the starter next year.
But we don't know if they are planning to feature him again, or looking for an upgrade, or looking for a complementary player. Are they bringing in competition or backups or role players or just letting things develop?
So when they consider signing Hyde that's good news. He is just good enough that he could be their biggest signing, and he's likely to be expensive enough that he's not going to sign right away to be their number 3, so for them to bring him in early suggests that they're considering him as their number one or two. Because if they saw him as a complete replacement level third rb kind of guy, they'd wait until he was getting desperate, or find someone else.
Seen through that lens, what does that tell us about their plans to sign, say, leveon bell? Or draft a back in the first round? If you've already got 8 million or so committed to rbs would you still be looking to add a starter?
So the fact that they're bringing hyde in for an early visit means that they are at least considering going into the season with hyde and williams as their top two options. And that - along with their recent quotes and actions - gives us some clarity about how they view williams.
That doesn't mean hyde is incapable of having a career year and earning the starting job if he signs. But it does help to clarify how they feel about williams, which is a lot better than how much of the fantasy community seems to view him right now.
