Bills rookie wide receiver Gabriel Davis did not watch the Buccaneers beat the Chiefs in Super Bowl LV. It’s not that he had better things to do, instead, he just couldn’t stomach it.
The Chiefs earned their bid to that game by beating the Bills. Because of that, Davis wanted no part to do with the Super Bowl, he recently revealed.
“I couldn’t watch it because it made my stomach hurt, I feel like we should have been there,” Davis told the Orlando Sentinel.
Buffalo fell in the AFC title game, 38-24 vs. the Chiefs. Unfortunately, it wasn’t really close, but a tight-knit group in the Bills clearly took the loss to heart. Not only as Davis showed, but we could tell right after the game Buffalo’s players were upset. Fellow wide receiver Stefon Diggs refused to even leave the field.
After that loss, the Bills proclaimed they’d be back. Davis did more of the same recently, explaining that surpassing the AFC Championship is the objective new for his team.
“That’s our standard, obviously, now. We set the standard and we’re playing to be above that standard every single year,” Davis said.
As a rookie, Davis caught 35 passes for 599 yards with seven touchdowns. He preformed well, but at times, was inconsistent. Davis undoubtedly played his best along the sideline though, grabbing several impressive catches in 2020 by toe-tapping the turf.
Depending how the upcoming offseason goes, Davis might be getting an opportunity to do more of that in Year 2. COVID-19 has caused a massive drop to the NFL salary cap and if it lands near the reported $180-185 million area, the Bills will have to find some cap room.
One of the most obvious potential cut candidates for Buffalo is wide receiver John Brown. If released, the Bills could save around $7.9M against the cap. That’s a lot of dough for a player who was also oft-injury last season.
If Brown is let go, the Bills will likely place more trust in Davis next season. Davis can’t replace Brown’s speed, but he’d still have to step up in other ways.
At the end of the year, Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane did not jump at the chance to name Davis his No. 2 wide receiver behind Diggs… but for what it’s worth, he certainly sounded confident in him.
“I don’t want to put that on him but I don’t think Gabe is near his ceiling,” Beane said. “Thought he wasn’t a rookie by end of year because of how much he played.”
Finding a way to get Brown and Davis both back into the fold is not something that should be off the table for the Bills. Regardless, as the start of free agency on March 17 approaches, it’s a storyline to follow this offseason.
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