Buffalo Bills: D.K. Metcalf health update provides new wrinkle
The Buffalo Bills may be targeting a top wide receiver in the 2019 NFL Draft and one prospect was recently given a clean bill of health.
Ole Miss wide receiver D.K. Metcalf is arguably the top wide receiving weapon in the 2019 NFL Draft with elite size, speed, hands and athleticism. The Buffalo Bills surely have him on the draft radar.
He missed most of this past season due to a neck injury, but received good news on Friday.
Metcalf got a clean bill of health on Friday as Adam Schefter reported that Metcalf was cleared to resume all football activities with no limitations.
Ole Miss WR DK Metcalf, a projected 1st-round pick who underwent neck surgery last October, was cleared today for all football activity with no limitations, per Dr Kevin Foley, who performed his surgery. Metcalf is training for combine and will participate in all activities there
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 25, 2019
This is very good news if the Bills are interested in drafting the former Ole Miss standout as the team is in need of an upgrade at the wide receiver position – something I wrote about several weeks ago. Metcalf offers everything you could want in a receiver and then some as many have him as the top wide receiver in the upcoming draft.
Metcalf checks in at 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds. Much like the two first-round picks of the Bills last season, Metcalf is an absolute freak athletically. He runs past and jumps over defenders, has strong hands and a massive catch radius, and can go up to get the ball and catch it in stride for big plays.
As a redshirt freshman in 2017, Metcalf had his best season at Ole Miss with 12 games played, 39 catches, 646 yards and seven touchdowns. He followed up with seven games this season, 26 catches, 569 yards and five touchdowns. His season was cut short due to the neck injury he was just cleared from.
The need for more talent at the wide receiver position for Buffalo is well documented. Zay Jones and Robert Foster are the team’s top two weapons, but neither have the size, athleticism or hands that Metcalf possesses.
Jones and Foster combined for 63 catches, 890 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2018. For comparison, Julio Jones totaled 113 catches, 1,677 yards and eight touchdowns this season. Metcalf projects to be a game-changer like Jones but is an inch taller and five pounds heavier.
Providing Josh Allen a weapon like Metcalf would be a potential long-term marriage with each player budding into one of the best at their position. With Allen’s accuracy issues and Metcalf’s massive catch radius combined with ability to get deep, the two appear to be a match made in heaven.
Come April, Metcalf could and should be one of the first names called on the offensive side of the ball.
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If he tests well at the combine and at his pro day (which he should now that he his healthy) and runs anywhere close to a 4.5 40-yard dash, there is an extremely high chance Metcalf could hear his named called in the top 10.