The Buffalo Bills designated rookie wide receiver Marquez Stevenson to return from the team’s injured reserve list.
The team announced that move on Tuesday, two days before their Thanksgiving Day contest against the New Orleans Saints (5-5).
The Bills (6-4) placed Stevenson on IR at the end of training camp when making roster cuts. He sustained a foot injury during Buffalo’s preseason.
Being activated off of injured reserve really is not much of a telling sign. It opens a 21-day window.
The team now has that amount of time to place Stevenson on their 53-man roster or else he returns to their injured reserve list. However, he cannot be activated again and his season would be over.
In 2020, the Bills activated then-rookie Isaiah Hodgins off of IR but he was reverted back.
When asked if Stevenson could play as soon as Thursday against the Saints, McDermott made it sound like it’s an option.
“I think everything is on the table at this point,” McDermott said via video conference.
McDermott is a man that loves his coach-speak. He could just be saying that to put the thought in the Saints’ mind that Stevenson could be out there returning kicks and maybe even running routes.
He could also be sending a message to current returner Isaiah McKenzie, who had a costly fumble against the Indianapolis Colts in Buffalo’s Week 11 blowout loss.
Having said that, McDermott also backed McKenzie following that, saying he’s “confident” in him.
Only time will tell what happens with the rookie.
Stevenson was a sixth-round pick of the Bills at the 2021 NFL draft out of Houston.
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