Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Analyzing the Buffalo Bills’ roster at the wide receiver position, including Stefon Diggs, John Brown and Cole Beasley.
The Buffalo Bills had an excellent 2020 season as a team, but position-by-position is a different story. Some were better than others and as the offseason is now in full swing, Bills Wire will give a quick analysis of the team’s current roster by reflecting on the season that was and looking ahead to 2021.
Next up, here is our breakdown on the team’s wide receiver unit:
Buffalo Bills WR Isaiah Hodgins has surgery.
Buffalo Bills wide receiver Isaiah Hodgins doesn’t appear to be coming off the team’s injured reserve list any time soon.
On Nov. 24, the Bills (9-3) made a bit of a surprise move, designating Hodgins for return from injured reserve. The rookie sixth-round pick had spent the entire 2020 season to that point on the team’s injured reserve list with a shoulder injury.
But on Tuesday, Hodgins doubled on social media, indicating that he’s had surgery on the injury. The team has yet to make an official announcement, but Hodgins doing it himself confirms it.
First, Bills Wire’s Bradley Gelber shared this screen grab of a post via Hodgins’ on Instagram, which shows him in a sling:
Interesting. 2 weeks after returning to practice from IR, #Bills WR Isaiah Hodgins shared that he underwent successful surgery. pic.twitter.com/oL04SpNqaU
— Bradley Gelber (@BradleyGelber) December 9, 2020
In addition, Hodgins himself posted a similar message on Twitter, indicating that surgery went well:
God’s timing is always perfect! Surgery went well. Time to bounce back 🤞🏽
— Isaiah Hodgins (@IsaiahHodgins) December 9, 2020
With these posts, the Bills will likely soon update his status. After Hodgins was designated to return from injured reserve in late November, he was allowed to practice with the team for 21 before needing to be fully activated to the team’s 53-man roster. If the Bills were to not do that, Hodgins’ season would end because he would automatically be transferred back to IR. Pending Hodgins miraculous getting back on the practice field and in game shape within days of surgery (this is not going to happen), his season is done.
Hodgins’ rookie campaign in general was an interesting one. After standing out in training camp, Hodgins suffered the shoulder injury, but only missed a day or two. He then practiced again, made the team’s 53-man roster out of training camp, then immediately went to IR and we heard nothing on him until Nov. 24.
Some speculated Hodgins going on IR was a way to “redshirt” him in his rookie season. Perhaps Hodgins was actually seriously injured after all, or maybe upon his return to practice recently he re-injured the shoulder.
Regardless, we’ll see what he’s got in 2021.
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Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane takeaways following 2020 roster cut-down day.
Following a few big days for the Buffalo Bills last weekend, general manager Brandon Beane spoke via video conference to breakdown all the latest team headlines. Some of those include roster cut-down day across the NFL on Saturday and then the team’s decision to sign cornerback Tre’Davious White to a four-year extension.
Here are some main takeaways from what Beane had to say on Monday:
While Beane did discuss roster cut-down day, the most recent news for the Bills was a situation going in the opposite direction, Tre’Davious White’s four-year extension with the Bills. A reminder, Beane was not with the Bills when White was drafted. Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott was pulling the string with former GM Doug Whaley, however, many speculate it was mostly McDermott’s doing because right after that draft, Whaley was fired and Beane was hired. Still, Beane was around pretty much since Day 1 with White and has watched him grow into and All-Pro talent.
“You want to talk about earning it? He’s done it since the day he walked in here,” Beane said.
The most interesting detail from Beane might have been the timing of the new deal. The GM was happy it got done before the 2020 season began.
“I’m glad we got it done before the season, he can take that off his shoulders. Just play free and know that he’s got financial security for his family,” Beae said. “It’s another way we can show what we’re doing here. Draft, develop, re-sign… and it’s a commitment from the Pegulas.”
Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane explains why Isaiah Hodgins was sent to the injured reserve list.
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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A list of the Buffalo Bills’ most spurring moves made over the roster cut-down weekend.
Over this past weekend, the NFL and Bills made a lot of decisions. Plenty of tough ones, too. The objective was to get down to 53 players on team rosters ahead of the 2020 regular season. Just last week, most teams in the league had near 80 players, and each team had to fill out a practice squad as well.
In breaking things down and allowing the dust to settle, the Bills certainly did make a few surprising decisions. To catch you up, we’ll go through some of those now:
Perhaps the biggest debate out of training camp was what the Bills will do with their quarterback situation and as it turns out, they did the smart, sensible thing: Kept four of them. This was the suggested scenario we made prior to roster cut-down day as well.
While reports out of training camp were few and far between, none of them had something good to say about rookie quarterback Jake Fromm. Some speculated that the fifth-round pick was outplayed by Davis Webb and the veteran backup was actually going to be the third quarterback behind Josh Allen and Matt Barkley.
But nope, instead, it’s Fromm over Webb, who eventually made his way to the practice squad. What Sean McDermott & Co. were thinking seems to be pretty clear now.
Cut Fromm? As a rookie and a very well-known college quarterback, he was going to get claimed by someone. Webb? He’s been on and off practice squads in his career and with the Bills specifically, no one has signed him of their practice squad in recent seasons. So putting Webb out on the wavier wire was much smarter and if anything, it could just be a formality.
If Webb did outplay Fromm in camp? It would be interesting to see what the Bills do if Allen or Barkley go down. Could Webb be ahead of Fromm on the depth chart even though he’s on the practice squad? That’s speculation, but certainly a scenario most would prefer not to find out.
Buffallo Bills announced additional roster moves on Sunday.
The Bills announced three expected moves on Sunday in relation to their recent roster cuts which were expected. Another came as a bit of a surprise.
The first one we saw coming was Jon Feliciano (chest) heading to the injured reserve list. He’s expected to miss a couple games, at minimal. But joining him there was rookie wide receiver Isaiah Hodgins.
It didn’t appear Hodgins was dinged up during the later portions of training camp, but he did wear a red non-contact jersey for a few days during camp.
With this year’s injured reserve list, players only have to spent three games on it before they can be activated to the roster again.
In the opposite direction, the Bills re-signed two players the team cut on Saturday: wide receiver Andre Roberts and safety Dean Marlowe. Those two moves were expected to occur, according to multiple reports on Saturday when the team announced their initial cuts.
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Final 2020 Buffalo Bills roster projection heading into regular season cut-down day.
The Buffalo Bills are a mere hours away from trimming down their roster to 53 players. On Saturday, NFL teams, including the Bills, must have their team down to that number by 4 p.m. Teams entered this year’s training camp with 80 players as opposed to the traditional 90 due to COVID-19.
There were several storylines to come out of this year’s training camp. While some were the types we’re used to, others were new, such as the grapple the team had on reports coming out of training camp. While eyeballs on camp were held back from reporting things over the past few weeks, we haven’t heard much. But media outlets are no longer watching practice, and since they’re not, we’ve started to really see the dust settle a bit on where the team’s final roster could sit.
Using some of the additional info we’re now privy to, let’s put together a final guess at the squad. Here’s our last 53-man roster projection for the Bills as they head toward cut-down day on Saturday:
At this point of the offseason, we’ve seen two factions of reports out of Bills training camp. The first is Davis Webb out-playing rookie Jake Fromm. That could be true, but the Bills also made an investment in Fromm via a fifth-round pick. Albeit it’s a Day 3 pick, but we’ve already seen the lengths Sean McDermott will go to support a problematic Round 5 QB. Nathan Peterman was one, folks.
Because of that past, and the front office’s prior protections of from via his racially-charged text messages which surfaced this offseason… c’mon, the Bills are almost right to the finish line with Fromm so it’s hard to envision them letting him go. He’s not going to stick around on their practice squad, someone will claim him if he’s let go, so we’ll predict stays and Webb goes to the practice squad… perhaps even in a twisted way. Maybe just to protect Fromm, they keep him on the 53 and put Webb on the practice squad. Teams are much less likely to go after Webb. But if Allen gets hurt, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Webb called up from the practice squad to be QB2 behind Barkley.
And in the past the Bills have kept two quarterbacks, but with COVID-19, it’d be very silly to not do everything you can to keep all four guys around.
Matt Barkley is casually throwing touchdowns to … his left tackle?
(Via @NFL) pic.twitter.com/GLxThxhZPT— USA TODAY NFL (@usatodaynfl) November 11, 2018
Pro Football Focus has the Bills receiving corps ranked as the fifth best in the NFL, which is a pretty big jump from where the unit was even just a season ago. The Bills are just days away from breaking down their roster to 53 players. Cut-down day …
Pro Football Focus has the Bills receiving corps ranked as the fifth best in the NFL, which is a pretty big jump from where the unit was even just a season ago. The Bills are just days away from breaking down their roster to 53 players. Cut-down day in the league is slated for Saturday at 4 p.m. Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane has some tough decisions ahead of him.
With a position group built through free agency, trades and the draft, here’s a breakdown of the position, player-by-player:
Duke Williams caught the Bills attention thanks to a strong showing in the Canadian Football league. He demonstrated big-play potential during the 2019 preseason after signing with Buffalo and is a big target at 6-foot-3, 225 pounds, who may work his way into a role on offense.
Entering his second year with the team, the 27-year-old Auburn product had the two biggest catches during camp so far, muscling one in coverage on a pass from quarterback Matt Barkley and making an even more impressive one-handed haul in amidst multiple defenders on a throw from rookie QB Jake Fromm. The biggest problem with Williams is his lack of production on special teams, something several other depth options have.
How did @YFBurnna_cmh catch that…#BillsCamp | #BillsMafia pic.twitter.com/IwrVLatIZc
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) August 20, 2020
Growing up around the Arizona Cardinals Larry Fitzgerald seems to have made an impression on Hodgins. The 6-foot-4 rookie out of Oregon State dubbed the Bills’ ‘biggest draft steal’ by Draft Wire had 86 catches for 1,171 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns last season for the Beavers. Like Diggs, he’s known for his route running and was described by The Draft Network as having “the most natural hands in the class.” It will be interesting to see if he can make his way into the receiver group in his first year as a Bill, but could another team claim him of Buffalo’s practice squad if he ends up there?
Buffalo Bills 53-man roster projection for second time in 2020 training camp.
As far as onlookers are considered, Buffalo Bills training camp has come to a close. On Sunday, the team had their final offseason practice which allowed reporters to be in attendance. Now we’re back to regular season standards where there’s… pretty much next to nothing seen.
But behind closed doors for the next few days, the team will still hit the practice field. Many players who are on the roster bubble are still battling for those spots prior to Saturday’s 4 p.m. cut down deadline.
But as our eyes have now exited the Bills’ practice field before we see them slash players off their roster, let’s take another swing at the team’s final roster. Here’s a 53-man roster projection for the Bills after that first week of practice:
Over the past few roster projections we’ve released… we haven’t seen much movement in the slightest at the quarterback position. Those circumstances will remain the same once again (sorry).
Under a normal offseason, this move could have gone very differently. Earlier this offseason the Bills were in a position to potentially keep two quarterbacks… and in two different scenarios. Davis Webb was probably always going to be cut. Then there’s two other situations where one can envision Matt Barkley being cut and the other where Jake Fromm is released.
In terms of Barkley, he’s no longer really a “veteran” mentor to Allen, games played wise. Allen has 27 starts to Barkley’s seven. Cutting Barkley could also save the Bills $1.5M against the salary cap. But with COVID-19’s entrance into the offseason, this idea exited. There’s no way the Bills could run with Fromm as their backup when there’s no preseason games under his belt… aka having a No. 2 without any experience, period. But coronavirus also should make the Bills think twice about a strategy they’ve done the past few seasons: Keeping only two quarterbacks.
The 2018 season was one which saw the Bills start four quarterbacks. That year also didn’t involve a pandemic. Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott should refrain from getting cute here and trying to sneak Fromm on their practice squad. Just keep three, Bills, especially since you stuck by Fromm after his racially-charged texts from his past surfaced.
Jake Fromm dropped this one right in the bucket 🎯 pic.twitter.com/TnpUhn0Rbn
— ESPN (@espn) January 2, 2020
Nine players on the roster bubble still who need a big week of practice before 2020 cutdown day at training camp.
It seems like Buffalo Bills training camp only just began, but it’s actually already almost over. In less than a week, teams have to cut down to 53 players. By Saturday at 4 p.m., we’ll know who the Bills are heading into their 2020 season opener against the Jets with. Many of those players we already know of.
Guys like quarterback Josh Allen and cornerback Tre’Davious White aren’t near that territory, but with training camp coming to a close, there’s still plenty of guys still squarely on the roster bubble who need a big week of practice before next weekend.
With that, here are nine players on the Bills still on the roster bubble heading into the final week of camp:
It’s never a lock for a seventh-round rookie. You’re just a step away from being an undrafted rookie and that’s the case for cornerback Dane Jackson. Recently during the Bills’ training camp scrimmage, Jackson was running with the backups against the starting defense. However, even if he was with the twos, the Bills were thin at cornerback. Josh Norman (hamstring) is out and UDFA rookie Ike Brown retired this week. Since then, the Bills have added Brian Allen via free agency and there’s still Cam Lewis to consider. Jackson needs to hold both of those guys off this week if he’s going to keep a depth spot.
