Is TJ sanders on the team?

[Thurman#1]

9 hours ago, sunshynman said:

He's a rookie, chill

 

 

This. It takes time. An unpredictable amount of time, unfortunately.

 

There's not a thing we can do to speed up the process. 

[Thurman#1]

14 hours ago, NeverOutNick said:

I get people trying to defend rookies, but when you’re a high draft pick, you’re expected to contribute right away regardless of how our organization bucks that trend. Maybe Sanders will work out but would’ve been much happier going after Luther Burden if we were trading up. But hey he hasn’t done anything either 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

 

They are contributing. They're playing. Mostly at a decent level so far, certainly well for DLs in their first three games. Playing is contributing. Playing STs is contributing. Just about all of them are contributing.

 

As for doing more than that in the first three games, high draft pick or not, "expecting them to" do more than "contribute right away" only shows that you're wackily expecting the world to bend to your will.

 

Slightly more than half of first rounders don't even pan out. Pretending that any draft pick, particularly one outside the top five or ten, to start making a difference in the first three games says more about unreasonable expectations than it does about the player's results.

 

 

Edited September 20 by Thurman#1

[gobills404]

The flashes are there. Let’s give him more than 3 games to put it all together.

[HappyDays]

13 hours ago, BigDingus said:

Why are we the only team that doesn't expect our 1st - 3rd round rookies to not do much? 

 

Huh? No team is "expecting" their 2nd and 3rd round rookies to do much in year one. We should count ourselves extremely lucky that we have two day 3 picks that are already making impact plays in the first month of their NFL career. That is practically unheard of. But we can't be satisfied with that because the 41st pick isn't playing like a seasoned veteran yet.

 

What rookie players are you thinking of with this comment? I think you should give some examples to back up your thought. I'll give one - the big round 2 steal Mike Green has played 45% of defensive snaps. He has 1 pressure, 0 sacks, 0 TFL, 1 solo tackle, 2 assisted tackles. I suppose Baltimore screwed up that pick.

[Thurman#1]

55 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

Huh? No team is "expecting" their 2nd and 3rd round rookies to do much in year one. We should count ourselves extremely lucky that we have two day 3 picks that are already making impact plays in the first month of their NFL career. That is practically unheard of. But we can't be satisfied with that because the 41st pick isn't playing like a seasoned veteran yet.

 

What rookie players are you thinking of with this comment? I think you should give some examples to back up your thought. I'll give one - the big round 2 steal Mike Green has played 45% of defensive snaps. He has 1 pressure, 0 sacks, 0 TFL, 1 solo tackle, 2 assisted tackles. I suppose Baltimore screwed up that pick.

 

 

Yes, this.

[FireChans]

1 hour ago, HappyDays said:

 

Huh? No team is "expecting" their 2nd and 3rd round rookies to do much in year one. We should count ourselves extremely lucky that we have two day 3 picks that are already making impact plays in the first month of their NFL career. That is practically unheard of. But we can't be satisfied with that because the 41st pick isn't playing like a seasoned veteran yet.

 

What rookie players are you thinking of with this comment? I think you should give some examples to back up your thought. I'll give one - the big round 2 steal Mike Green has played 45% of defensive snaps. He has 1 pressure, 0 sacks, 0 TFL, 1 solo tackle, 2 assisted tackles. I suppose Baltimore screwed up that pick.

I disagree hard with your first paragraph.

 

i think there’s a little Stockholm syndrome in Buffalo about the second round.

 

teams absolutely do rely on their second round picks every year to contribute.

 

we seem to treat the pick like a red shirt year for the most part.

[balln]

6 hours ago, gobills404 said:

The flashes are there. Let’s give him more than 3 games to put it all together.

This was nice. I can confirm now. He is in fact on the team 

 

All jokes aside. Tua got those balls out quick 

[Orlando Buffalo]

Walker I noticed in good ways, I did not notice Jones even once, did I miss the good plays or he is he filling the "Ted Washington" role of lots of good plays but no stats? 

 

[mannc]

12 hours ago, SCBills said:

Seems like it typically takes some time for DL not drafted in the top 5 or so to hit. 
 

Look across the field at Kenneth Grant, a guy 90% of us wanted… dude has been getting washed out all over the place for Miami so far this year. 
 

 

As I recall, even Quinnen Williams was mostly invisible his rookie year, too…and he was a top 3 pick

[Bob in STL]

I think Sanders, or any rookie, needs a much longer look than just 3 games.  He played a lot, now he needs to make some plays.   It will come, the game will slow down for him in time.  

[No_Matter_What]

9 hours ago, Orlando Buffalo said:

Walker I noticed in good ways, I did not notice Jones even once, did I miss the good plays or he is he filling the "Ted Washington" role of lots of good plays but no stats? 

 

Like you said. I didn't notice him live either, but if you look at all-22 you see that he had lot of good plays in both run defense and pass rush. I started doing that this year for the first time and it gave me completely new perspective.

 

 

[Orlando Buffalo]

3 hours ago, No_Matter_What said:

Like you said. I didn't notice him live either, but if you look at all-22 you see that he had lot of good plays in both run defense and pass rush. I started doing that this year for the first time and it gave me completely new perspective.

 

 

Right now I don't have time for that, I watch it once live and then the condensed game but I accept I definitely don't see everything. I was just surprised because usually the eye test and PFF line up pretty close. 

[SoTier]

This thread has the smell of troll about it.

 

[TBBills Fan]

2 games in..

[gobills404]

17 hours ago, FireChans said:

I disagree hard with your first paragraph.

 

i think there’s a little Stockholm syndrome in Buffalo about the second round.

 

teams absolutely do rely on their second round picks every year to contribute.

 

we seem to treat the pick like a red shirt year for the most part.

When a high pick gets “redshirted” it could mean they’re not hitting the ground running like Sanders, but it often just means their team already has a solid starter at that position, which is a good thing. And on the flip side, if a team has lots of snaps going to rookies it’s often a sign their roster isn’t very complete and/or is dealing with injuries, which is a bad thing. If you look at the teams in the top half of this chart I don’t envy most of them whatsoever.

 

[Sojourner]

1 hour ago, gobills404 said:

When a high pick gets “redshirted” it could mean they’re not hitting the ground running like Sanders, but it often just means their team already has a solid starter at that position, which is a good thing. And on the flip side, if a team has lots of snaps going to rookies it’s often a sign their roster isn’t very complete and/or is dealing with injuries, which is a bad thing. If you look at the teams in the top half of this chart I don’t envy most of them whatsoever.

 

Patriots have actually had a good production from their offseason acquisitions. Their defense especially. Milton Williams, Harold Landry, K’laivon Chaisson and Spillane have been good. Carlton Davis so-so but he’s coming back from that brutal injury. 
 

Their rookies? Will Campbell and Craig Woodson have played nearly all available snaps. Throw in Henderson and Farmer being rotational pieces for their respective units and that snap % makes sense. 
 

Again, Campbell and Wilson make up the bulk of that given out of 22 starters they are  9%. If the Kyle Williams hype train actually transpired they’d be leaps and bounds ahead of Cleveland in terms of those percentages. 
 

Pains me to say it but they’ve actually done a decent job out there in Foxborough for Vrabel’s first year. Time will tell if it translates to sustained and productive success. For the mean time, their roster additions have hit the ground running and are contributing well. 

[balln]

https://buffalowdown.com/buffalo-bills-clearly-already-regret-making-bold-nfl-draft-trade-01k5h2hpqg85

 

CIick bait but it’s out there 

Edited September 21 by balln

[HomeskillitMoorman]

On 9/19/2025 at 12:10 PM, Ethan in Cleveland said:

At least he is active. Landon Jackson hasn't even dressed for a game. 

 

Yeah I'm definitely not as concerned as with Jackson. He's doing OK under some tough circumstances.

 

Hopefully this won't happen with Jackson but there were people who in Elam's second season when he was still a healthy inactive would be like "he'll be fine, no worries" and it's just strange. 

 

[RichRiderBills]

On 9/20/2025 at 12:48 AM, gobills404 said:

The flashes are there. Let’s give him more than 3 games to put it all together.

 

I've noticed him. Thought he's always around the ball. I'm not worried either. 

 

I'm a bit more worried about the groot situation, but even that is a bit silly. Groot isn't the unstoppable force I thought he'd be w Bosa yet, but he has flashed. 

[Not at the table Karlos]

23 hours ago, Orlando Buffalo said:

Walker I noticed in good ways, I did not notice Jones even once, did I miss the good plays or he is he filling the "Ted Washington" role of lots of good plays but no stats? 

 

How did you miss Jones? He was beating his blocks and getting into the back field a lot. It was his best game in a long time.