By: Alex “MereKat” LeMere
As a rookie, Gabriel (not Gabe) Davis stole the show last season for the Buffalo Bills. The rookie receiver, fresh out of UCF, put together a highlight reel of toe drag snags along the sidelines, dominated one-on-one battles with defensive backs and expressed a flair for hauling in touchdowns that cemented Davis as the No. 2 receiver in Allen’s air raid. All eyes were, and seemingly still are, on Davis heading into his sophomore campaign to breakout even further and prove himself as a steal (2020 128th overall)… but he wasn’t the only receiver Buffalo added to their roster that draft.
With the 207th overall pick, the Buffalo Bills selected WR Isaiah Hodgins out of Oregon State. A classic Brandon Beane double-dip, selecting Hodgins just 79 picks after taking Davis, which leads me to believe he must’ve been pretty high on their draft board.
The 6-foot-4 210 lb. Hodgins spent his college career at Oregon State tearing apart opposing secondaries like some cheap loose leaf. Over his three seasons (2016-19) as a Beaver, Hodgins compiled 176 catches for 2,322 yards and 20 all-exclusive trips to the end zone. He really took the college football scene by storm as a junior in 2019 after his 86/1171/13 garnered him second-team All-Pac 12, instilling the confidence in himself to forego his senior season and declare for the NFL draft.
There were some unusually big expectations for a sixth round pick like Hodgins coming into Buffalo, especially after “slipping” in the draft. The Bills needed to inject their receiver room with young depth while surrounding Josh Allen with as many weapons as possible into his third season. The selections of Davis and Hodgins addressed those needs with a couple of lower risk, higher upside (a theme with BBB) college standouts.
At the time, I admittedly liked the Hodgins pick more than I did Davis (obviously not the case anymore). There was A LOT to love about Hodgins coming out of Oregon State and I think he brings elements to this Bills’ offense that could make an immediate impact.
So what stood out to me?
- Size & Body Control – The lanky 22-year-old receiver towered over most of his Pac-12 competition at nearly 6-foot-4 and 210 lbs. in his college days (combine measurements, I hope he’s filling out post-surgery). Hodgins possesses an above-average NFL height paired with a overall frame that, with the help of a pro strength and conditioning program, could physically outmatch most defensive backs. Cap that off with almost 10″ hands (everyone’s favorite measurement) and 33 1/8″ arms and you have yourself a receiver who can make up for a lack of speed with sheer size and length. The level of control he has over his body, for his size and position, definitely stands out when you watch him play. Sometimes a “lankier” receiver will play kind of clunky, without much fluidity at all and almost throw their body around when making a play…not Hodgins. Hodgins can use his length to create catch space in the tightest of windows. He’s grown into his size very well and knows how to use every inch of his 6-foot-4 frame. Here you can see the body control + size combo result in a ridiculous score.
- Catch Radius – Okay, so he can’t shoot webs (that we know of), BUT what Hodgins can do is catch almost any ball thrown within his vicinity like Spider Man. Watching him make a difficult reception seems instinctual to him – in fact, he had a SICK 76.2% contested catch rate (via PFF) in college. The size factor obviously plays into this as well, with his long arms and big hands making for a QB friendly WR that has the reach to track down the pass. He’s not afraid to lay himself out and put that big ole’ frame at risk of taking the hit if it means making the catch – something ya love to see, but can also scare you at times. Whether the ball is right on the numbers for him to collapse his body around it to make the secure snag or readjusting to an off-target throw from Luton, Hodgins will react to in an instant to make the play. This catch right here is just a big bowl of awesome, not necessarily showing off his range, but that he can catch any ball in his vicinity – even with defenders draped over him.
- Sticky Hands – (Obviously) You want a receiver who’s not going to drop balls, right? Good, because that’s another thing Hodgins can bring. He has ELITE hands. Probably the best in his draft class. This isn’t a culmination of the first two points (size and catch radius), but it is the spice in the recipe that is his game that brings the whole dish together. His junior year he had 86 catches with just ONE (!!!!) drop – AKA Luton’s best friend. His natural catching ability is near flawless but one point I brought up earlier that comes to play here is how well he uses his frame to protect the reception – he instinctually secures the ball using his natural advantages. His catching consistency isn’t all about his frame. Hodgins’ strong hands give him the ability to pick the ball out the air like a frog locking onto a fly, which shows when he’s bringing in balls away and above from his body with a high rate of success. He’s a magnet for the football that’ll have fans thinking he naturally secretes Stickum from his palms.
- Red Zone THREAT – Okay, now THIS is taking the aforementioned traits I liked about Hodgins’ play and really throwing them into a blender. Combine his size, sure fire hands and catch radius and what do we get? A potentially lethal red zone threat that, recently, we hoped Kelvin Benjamin (lol) could be for Allen. Now, we didn’t have any issues last season scoring touchdowns…but Gabriel Davis being your biggest contributing WR in 2020 at just 6-foot-2 does limit you a bit inside the opponents’ 20-yard line. Giving Josh a larger target that can handle the velocity of his passes is definitely something I’m interested in, a player that he can truly be “thrown open” without needing separation. Hodgins adds another valuable layer to our offensive onion that I wouldn’t say is a need, but an exciting and beneficial dimension we’ve lacked in recent years. And according to PFF, Hodgins was basically red zone Hercules in college.
It can’t be ALL good with Hodgins can it? Welp, I know I talk about Hodgins like he’s the second coming, but obviously there’s reasons he went in the sixth round. I won’t go into heavy detail because I personally refuse to believe he won’t be a success in the NFL, but I’d be remiss not to point out the obvious issues:
- Definitely not “fast” – a 4.61 40 yard dash isn’t all that inspiring for a receiver. It’s not great but I wouldn’t say the speed is an end-all for Hodgins. His game has been refined due to the fact he knows how to get the ball in his hands using his other, more favorable traits. He’s not going to pose a threat to burn by any pro CB right now and doesn’t have that “quick twitch” burst to get solid separation with a break. The lack of explosive speed (paired with some unrefined footwork) takes away any real threat of beating a defender off the snap too. His release is straight up bad. Still, I can’t help but think if you gave this guy 4.4 speed he would probably have been a day 1 or early day 2 pick, but people hate a slow receiver.
- Strength (or lack thereof) – this is a much easier fix than the speed factor. Hodgins only put up nine reps (bottom nine percentile) at the combine and weighed in at ~210 lbs…not great for a 6-foot-4 receiver relying on his frame to make plays. Sure, it was all dandy in the Pac-12, but not if he wants to work his way onto this team. Durability wasn’t an issue for Hodgins in college, yet I can’t help but think he needs to bulk up to protect himself from potential injury with this play style. It’s been over a year since those measurements and months removed from surgery so I hope he’s taking full advantage of that shiny new weight room the Bills have. Bulking up will just give him more of an advantage when he’s putting his size to work over a DB. I want to see this man looking THICC, but not “one Popeye’s biscuit from becoming a tight end”.
- YAC? No thank you – Great at: catching the ball. Bad at: doing anything once he’s caught it. The lack of speed and strength makes this worse obviously, but other than that he’s just not great at producing extra yardage after making the catch. Not what you want out of a guy who I think ends up as a “big slot” type WR. He’s just not a “creator” with the ball in his hands. Hodgins can make a spectacular one-handed grab open down the sidelines one minute and then topple like a castle of cards with a window of space after catching a routine slant. If he’s going to be used situationally (red zone/short yardage target) than it’s not the worst thing…but if we really want him to be a consistent contributor than I hope Hodgins is glued to Chad Hall’s hip this off-season.
Unfortunately, we know Hodgins never got his shot to prove what he can do as a pro while Davis went on to be second to Diggs in snaps and helped catapult our offense into that elite category. Both the rookie receivers impressed in training camp, but Hodgins was ultimately “held back” by Brandon Beane and placed on IR.
Held back you say? What exactly happened with Hodgins last season? Even though people were initially a bit bewildered why he was put on injured reserve despite not having a notable camp injury, it was really just another display of Brandon Beane’s genius at work. Hodgins DID have a shoulder surgery in camp, just one that the team believed didn’t need immediate medical action. Beane wanted to see how the injury would play out, so instead of “wasting” a roster spot on a rookie WR that may need surgery or risk trying to move a talent like Hodgins to the practice squad – he took full advantage of the new look injured reserve.
[Isaiah] has something that may require surgery at some point, but not right now. We’re just going to try and let it 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.
– Brandon Beane via Buffalo Bills Twitter live presser 09/07/2020
Hodgins would still count against the cap, which was peanuts being a sixth round rookie, but wouldn’t count as a roster spot while being protected as a Buffalo Bill. Genius given the new IR rules that allowed teams much more flexibility with the ability to activate an unlimited amount of players and after just three weeks.
We got a bit of a surprise on November 23rd when the team switched his status to “designated for return”, giving us hope we’d see Hodgins get back on the field last season. A chance to see him back on the field got me excited for a minute there…but just a minute. It turned out that the team’s original inclination that his shoulder might eventually cause Hodgins to go under the knife was the right one after he tweaked it again in practice days later. His season was officially over before it had a chance to really start, but gave Hodgins the time needed to really get healthy and head into this offseason with A LOT to prove.
It’s no secret that the Bills are going to have some potentially difficult decisions this offseason, facing the envious issue of having an abundance of depth which will likely result of good players getting cut/claimed away – and Hodgins is definitely one of them in question.
I know it seems like I’m hyping up a kid taken in the sixth round who already has a season-ending surgery under his belt before taking a NFL snap a little too much…but there’s just so much to like about what his game can add to Allen’s arsenal. He’s the only WR, outside of Tanner Gentry, with a shot to make the final roster cut that’s over 6′-foot-2 and although we didn’t necessarily “miss” not having that big bodied pass catcher last year – it’s something we’re missing. With his skill set and size, I see Hodgins carving out a role in this offense as a big slot receiver and situational threat in the red zone with the potential to be a consistent contributor and our WR3 of the future. Please don’t be mean to me…but I see flashes (JUST FLASHES) of Michael Thomas in Hodgins’ play.
I’ve been sitting idly on the Hodgins’ hype train for a while now and really just want to see him work his way on to this roster this Summer. He’ll have to climb his way up the ladder, rung by rung, after missing last season – but there’s a reason Beane made sure to protect him last year. The WR5 & 6 (unless we somehow keep 7) battle between the likes of Stevenson, McKenzie, Hodgins, Kumerow, Williams and Gentry probably comes down to the first three names mentioned and as a gambling man, I’d bet on Hodgins name being found that final roster.
GO BILLS BABY
One Response
Great article!!