Isaiah Hodgins Bills made big mistake

[babulator]

I wouldn't call it a "BIG" mistake, but we should have found a way to keep him.

 

I'm looking @ John Brown, Cole Beasley, Jamison Crowder, Isiah Mckenzie, Jake Kumerow and it doesn't look like a great move in hindsight.

 

Also, I thought it was an odd move after investing soo much time into this kid *shrugs*

 

We can't win them all, and sometimes good ones get away.

[Mr. WEO]

Here we go again

[26TrapDraw]

13 hours ago, Chicagobills said:

This dude can play and we all knew it. Why wasn’t he given an opportunity?

Shakir will be just as good if not better by the end of the season.I know I’m such a Shakir Honk but this kid looks like he’s ready to breakout.

[JoshAllin]

"You have to have that mindset as a receiver," he said Sunday, via the New York Daily News. "That's something I really learned in Buffalo with Stefon Diggs, Emmanuel Sanders, Cole Beasley, John Brown, Gabe Davis: When you line up, I'm the best receiver on that field and no one can stop me. You just have to believe in that and have that confidence in yourself, go out there play by play and show that improvement."

 

Oh great, he has learned a bunch from some of the best

[ChevyVanMiller]

13 hours ago, Chicagobills said:

This dude can play and we all knew it. Why wasn’t he given an opportunity?

He had 8 catches for 105 yds and a TD yesterday. Good for him.

 

Diggs was 7 for 114 and Gabe was 6 for 113 and a TD against the Phins. Hodgins’ wasn’t going to supplant either of them here in Buffalo. At best that left him as a WR 4 and that spot was never going to be taken away from Shakir, who I believe will be a more productive pro than Hodgins in the end.

 

So that left him as a WR 5 and in the NFL players in that spot need to be STers, without  exception.

 

This is simply a case of the Giants having a clearer route for Hodgins to start and good for him, I hope he keeps on keeping on.

[Bob in STL]

We gave him a lot of chances and stuck with him.  He was hurt a lot. He looked good in preseason versus 3s and 4s.  We gave him chances. 

[78thealltimegreat]

This reminds me of Jimmy Smith from back in the day always hurt when the Dallas Cowboys drafted him…hurt again in Philly…picked up on his last chance with Jacksonville and wound up being their teams leading receiver in history.

These things happen.

He’s just getting chances now…the Bills are short handed at receiver now they have two street free agents and a rookie starting for them in the playoffs. 

[SoCal Deek]

1 hour ago, Ralonzo said:

 

Being a fancy dan and trying for an angle kick after 17-0, and having it go OB and giving the Dolphins the 40-ball turned the game, and it's not the first time this year. I'm not against having a couple guys majoring in ST, although it'd be better if you weren't dead meat running them out there in a real O or D set. Neal is like that, he can run you some reps from time to time. This one relates directly to keeping Kumerow whose WR ceiling is... what really?... over Hodgins. You prioritize a 4th or 5th ST specialist over an actual weapon, which some people on the board did see the potential there between preseason and his elevations, and he goes off to the Giants and does exactly what people said he could do for the Bills. On top of providing something they really didn't have in the group aside from Diggs: hands.

Are you sure that’s what happened on the kickoff? I think the ball fell off the tee just before that, and Bass was therefore tentative on his approach when he reset it. That threw him off and so he shanked it. 

[K-9]

It’s been over two months since we lost Hodgins. Where was all the protest when it happened? When we were being decimated by injuries and forced to carry other players at other positions on the active roster instead of another receiver?

 

I am genuinely happy for the kid that he is getting his shot and taking advantage. 

[T master]

14 hours ago, Chicagobills said:

This dude can play and we all knew it. Why wasn’t he given an opportunity?

 

They paid Mckenzie to take Beasley's place which although he is a good team mate he's not very consistent they also kept Kumero which is a good ST's player & maybe a blocker but i'm thinking Hodgins could have done that too .

 

Just given the hype from when he was drafted i figured he would be another weapon for Josh . Every time he was on the field he made plays not many because he wasn't used enough but it's all in hind sight now he's doing great & is usually good for 1 TD per game which that consistency would be a nice add to the Bills offense !! 

[TheBeaneBandit]

14 hours ago, Sammy Watkins' Rib said:

Fans knew Hodgins could play though. I don’t recall what the fan sentiment was on Teller when he was here. Was he a guy that just turned a corner once he left? 

Teller showed good run blocking here he just needed to clean up his pass blocking techniques, which he did in Cleveland.

[Realist]

I wish we sucked again so other teams wouldn't pick up our roster fodder.

[dave mcbride]

13 minutes ago, Bandito said:

He obviously wasn't a top guy for awhile. Glad he got a chance with the Gmen. Sadly, we chose McKenzie over him who was inactive yesterday

He was inactive because he was injured (hamstring).

[bigK14094]

14 hours ago, djp14150 said:

 

the issue was he was behind  receivers on the depth chart.  He was plucked from the PS by a former asst GM and OC.

 

Buffalo has a few draft picks either off if waiver or taking from the PS.

 

this will happen again.

My memory is that the  Bills cut him from the 53, perhaps hoping to put him back on the PS.  But, the Giants swooped in at that point and signed him.  The Bills got to cute playing the practice squad resigning game and lost Hodgkins.  Anyhow, comment about is correct.  He wouldn't be seeing the field, all the old slow guys got those opportunities

[Ralonzo]

42 minutes ago, SoCal Deek said:

Are you sure that’s what happened on the kickoff? I think the ball fell off the tee just before that, and Bass was therefore tentative on his approach when he reset it. That threw him off and so he shanked it. 

 

Nah, I'm not sure. That's my speculation, but the fact that it happened twice in such a similar situation makes me suspicious.

30 minutes ago, T master said:

 

They paid Mckenzie to take Beasley's place which although he is a good team mate he's not very consistent they also kept Kumero which is a good ST's player & maybe a blocker but i'm thinking Hodgins could have done that too .

 

 

Hodgins wasn't nearly as good on teams, but many thought he was so much better than TDJ as a receiver in his preseason game action, that it should overrule Kumerow being rostered. Even the regular season elevations showed that's the kind of guy who moves chains. We want the Bills to matriculate, right?

[SoCal Deek]

2 minutes ago, Ralonzo said:

 

Nah, I'm not sure. That's my speculation, but the fact that it happened twice in such a similar situation makes me suspicious.

It looked to me like he was very tentative on his approach to the ball and it threw him off.

[BRH]

1.  You have to believe that if Josh felt more comfortable with Hodgins than with Gabe or the other guys that we kept, he would still be here.

 

2.  I think you will find that most guys who break out on their second or third teams came from better teams where they were unable to land a spot.

 

3.  I am not impressed by players who are unable (or worse, unwilling) to do what it takes to stick.  If you're a back or a receiver, unless you're a really high-round draft pick, you better be able to block and you better be able to play special teams.  I come from a baseball background and it's the same thing there:  unless you're a stud, you better be able to play multiple positions, move runners over, et cetera.  I'm not sure what's so hard about that to understand.

[Beck Water]

14 hours ago, Sammy Watkins' Rib said:

Because Kumerow. And that was a big mistake in hindsight. 

 

Back that thought up a little bit.  "Why wasn't he given an opportunity?"

 

Ask yourself what role Hodgins would fill on our team.  He's a big-bodied outside WR, correct?  That would be the role Gabe Davis holds.

 

Then there's Diggs, who is the star and plays "everywhere". 

There's McKenzie, the intended quick nimble and fast guy. 

There's Khalil Shakir, the intended quick nimble and fast guy of the future.

Hodgins really doesn't fill any of those roles.

 

When you look at it that way, the question comes down to "is Hodgins better than Davis, or is Hodgins not better than Davis?"

Davis had 6 receptions on 9 targets for 113 yds and a TD yesterday.

Hodgins had 8 receptions on 9 targets for 105 yds and a TD yesterday

 

I'd like to see Davis catching a few more balls, but overall, No, Hodgins is not better than Davis.  He's not a better route runner, he's not faster, he's not a better blocker.

 

So as far as opportunity, Hodgins opportunities with the Bills fell into three categories:

-injury replacement (avert!)

-the few snaps Kumerow and/or Shakir were getting

-special teams ( and his special teams play in preseason was not All That )

 

Do I think the Bills would have loved to keep Hodgins, Absolutely!
 

But why was it a mistake? 

 

Part of being a competitive team is that you need to let go of players who can play in the league, especially when the GM has to make roster choices - like the choice to put Tre White on the active roster while he wasn't ready to play, necessitating keeping an extra DB.

 

Maybe we could say the same thing about a mistake letting go of Ray Ray McCloud, who is 5th and 6th in the league for PR and KR with the 49ers.

[mjt328]

It's clear that Isaiah Hodgins can be an effective WR in the NFL when the ball is thrown his way. 

The real question is whether he was going to be a difference-maker on THIS roster.  Was HE the guy that was going to put this offense over the top?  I'm just not seeing it.

 

As a big outside receiver, is he better than Gabe Davis?  I don't see any evidence of that.

In practice, Hodgins was never able to surpass Jake Kumerow on the depth chart.  Seeing how Kumerow has also proven himself as a capable depth receiver AND solid special-teams contributor, that really isn't surprising.

 

So in terms of the actual position he plays, Hodgins was our #4 outside receiver behind Stefon Diggs, Davis and Hodgins.  When you factor in the slot guys (Isaiah McKenzie, Jamison Crowder and Khalil Shakir), he was probably the #7 guy most of the season.  Now that we've added John Brown as a speed threat and Cole Beasley, you are probably talking about him being the #8-9 guy.

 

I know people want to call this a miss by Brandon Beane, but I'm just not seeing how Hodgins ever gets playing time in this offense.

 

EDIT:

 

I will add that Hodgins was purged from our roster during the time we were dealing with crazy injuries everywhere.  So not only was he losing the numbers game in the WR rotation, the Bills were also forced to stash extra corners, safeties and linemen to navigate through it all.  It was pretty hard to justify protecting him with an active roster spot, when we were down to our third string defensive backs and needed to bring in Xavier Rhodes/Dean Marlowe.

Edited January 16, 2023 by mjt328

[Beck Water]

9 minutes ago, mjt328 said:

I will add that Hodgins was purged from our roster during the time we were dealing with crazy injuries everywhere.  So not only was he losing the numbers game in the WR rotation, the Bills were also forced to stash extra corners, safeties and linemen to navigate through it all.  It was pretty hard to justify protecting him with an active roster spot, when we were down to our third string defensive backs and needed to bring in Xavier Rhodes/Dean Marlowe.

 

Exactly.  Beane didn't elevate Hodgins to the roster and then cut him and subject him to waivers just for shucks and giggles. 

 

He did it because he was dealing with an overall roster numbers-crunch at the time, that required him to sign someone to the 53 man roster because 2 PS elevations weren't enough, and required him to shed a man from the 53 man roster in order to sign Dean Marlowe and Tre White.

 

If Beane had kept Hodgins and not traded for Marlowe, we'd now be looking at a safety duo of Poyer and Jaquan Johnson or Cam Lewis.  People get all up in their "feels" OMG Beane cut a good player we could be using!  But does anyone think that would be a better idea?

 

I will say this - Beane seems to place an outsized (ha!) value on the contributions of Smurf WR.  But when it comes down to opponents playing press man and referees saying "let 'em play!", Smurfs are easier to jam and hold and take away sometimes.  I was disappointed that the Bills let go of the WR who best fit the "big possession receiver" type.

Edited January 16, 2023 by Beck Water