Buffalo Bills: Isaiah Hodgins making an impact during offseason practices

One of the strengths of the Buffalo Bills offense is certainly the wide receiver position especially with players like Stefon Diggs, Cole Beasley, and Emmanuel Sanders. They also have Gabriel Davis who is coming off an excellent rookie season with seven receiving touchdowns and he is expected to take that next step this coming season.

One of the players who is often forgotten is Isaiah Hodgins, who was a sixth round pick last year but missed the entire season after being placed on injured reserve to start the year. He was expected to return in November but would end up having shoulder surgery that ended any chance of him returning.

However, Hodgins is now back at practice and is making an impression on head coach Sean McDermott and quarterback Josh Allen who spoke about the second-year player on Tuesday. Prior to the first minicamp practice, McDermott said:

“Isaiah [Hodgins] as you mentioned is off to a phenomenal start because of his process in the offseason to get himself healthy. Now here we stand in the final week of offseason practices and I think he is putting himself in position to make a real move.”

After practice, it was Josh Allen who was asked about Hodgins and described a player who is a longer body receiver but is surprisingly quick in terms of short game quickness. Allen went on to say about Hodgins:

“He can do a lot of different things and I think they have been kind of switching him between X and Z so he’s got the ability to play multiple positions.”

This is certainly important to note as X as Z refers to where wide receivers are expected to line up on the field and both of those positions are typically on the outside with the X being the wide receiver who lines up on the line of scrimmage.

The question becomes how does Isaiah Hodgins fit within this position group and on the Buffalo Bills 53-man roster. The top four spots are essentially locked in with Stefon Diggs, Cole Beasley, Emmanuel Sanders, and Gabriel Davis.

This leaves one, potentially two spots, left up for grabs between Hodgins, Isaiah McKenzie, and Marquez Stevenson (who was a sixth round pick this year). This is shaping up to be one of the more competitive training camp battles with the way Hodgins has emerged this offseason.