Throughout Bills training camp, rookie wide receivers have been a hot-button topic. Gabriel Davis, as a fourth-round pick, was close to a roster lock out of the gate and only cemented that with some strong practices.
Isaiah Hodgins, a sixth rounder, had a much bigger hill to climb but he had impressed as well. Even veteran teammate John Brown commented on both Davis and Hodgins’ abilities early in training camp, saying the rookies were helping vets learn the playbook, at times. Still, Buffalo sported some solid depth options in their wideout room during camp, so many wondered what would happen with Hodgins when the dust settled, final roster or risk cutting him to place him on the practice squad?
The Bills took door No. 3 instead.
As the Bills were cutting down their roster to 53, Hodgins was placed on the injured reserve list in a surprise move considering Hodgins never missed any practices during training camp. The only sign of injury in Hodgins was when he wore a red non-contact jersey for a few days due to a shoulder injury.
On Monday, general manager Brandon Beane cleared the air a bit on what Hodgins to the IR menas. Evidently, it might be more serious than once thought. Per the GM, Hodgins might need to go under the knife for that shoulder issue down the road.
“He has something that may require surgery at some point… but not right now,” Beane said via video conference on Monday. “Just going to try and let [the injury] calm down. Let him get some strength in his shoulder and see where it goes. He battled hard, he finished camp with it, but I do think it was affecting him a little bit and so we’ll see. At some point, if we need to shut it down, we will, but right now we’re going to try to approach and see if he’s able to come back and help us, should we need him, this season.”
Due to changes in the collective bargaining agreement amid the COVID-19 pandemic, players can now be taken off the injured reserve list after spending three games there. Beane said that Hodgins might spend longer than that requirement on it, though. Some speculated Buffalo would just be using the IR to stash Hodgins there for a few weeks in an effort to keep him off waivers where other teams could claim him.
Hodgins’ situation is something that will be monitored over the first month or so of the season. If an injury hits the wide receiver room, eyes will immediately turn to Hodgins, especially after those first three games are in the books. Do the Bills immediately activate him off the IR list if an injury happens in Week 4 or 5? At that point we’ll known the true extent of his injury, but for now, he’s there for the next couple of weeks, at minimum.
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