Don’t Forget About Buffalo Bills’ WR Kolby Listenbee
By Ryan Brennan
The Buffalo Bills drafted Kolby Listenbee last year, but an injury kept him off the field all year long.
With the 192nd pick in the sixth round of the 2016 NFL Draft, the Buffalo Bills select — Kolby Listenbee out of TCU.
Listenbee made a bold statement early on, claiming to be the fastest player in the NFL. Although that’s debatable, he’s definitely one of the fastest. After missing his entire rookie season, he’ll have the chance to prove himself right in 2017.
Back in March, Kolby Listenbee underwent surgery for a double sports hernia. He made headlines when he ran a 4.39 40-yard dash before he had the surgery to fix the double sports hernia. It would ultimately keep him on the non-football injury list.
It was also discovered that Listenbee was dealing with hip instability from a hit he endured while at TCU.
"“I had a play at TCU where I injured it and my tailbone was hurting, it shot through my tailbone and my pelvis was shifting, getting shot up,” Listenbee said of his hip injury. “Each game kind of like made it worse.”"
In December, he had hip surgery to repair it and said that he would return in 2017 — healthy.
This is good news for the Buffalo Bills, who will have a completely new receiving group entering the 2017 season. After losing Robert Woods, Marquise Goodwin, Marcus Easley, Justin Hunter, Greg Salas and Percy Harvin, the Buffalo Bills went out and grabbed Andre Holmes, Philly Brown, Corey Washington and Jeremy Butler.
Listenbee’s speed will come in handy with the team losing Marquise Goodwin. In fact, the two have a lot in common, both being track stars in college.
Listenbee brings a range of talent. He has good hands, good ball-tracking skills, can free his hands for the catch easily, good at making late adjustments deep and can dig out low throws. He will have to work on his cutting and get sharper with his foot technique, but those are things that any young wide receiver can learn.
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He recently tweeted out this:
I have high hopes for Kolby Listenbee this season. No one is expecting him to be the Bills’ top receiver or even second, but to see him fit in well with this offense and show progress throughout the year will do wonders for this team.
Not only was he a sixth round draft pick, but he could materialize into a valuable player for the Buffalo Bills. All we need is a healthy Sammy Watkins and a couple of receivers to step up and take some pressure off Watkins.
I wouldn’t sleep on Listenbee just yet.
Here’s a look at the moment he was drafted by the team, thanks to DraftThread on YouTube:
It’s time to show us what you got, Listenbee.
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What are your thoughts on Kolby Listenbee? Leave your comments below!