Buffalo Bills Rookie WR Skyler Bell Puts on a Show in Preseason Finale
Ross Johnston highlights the performance from Bills Rookie WR Skyler Bell in their preseason win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Video Transcript
Well, the Buffalo Bills pulled off an amazing comeback to win over the Pittsburgh Steelers 28 to 27 in their preseason finale, and go to 3 and 0 in the preseason.
But there is one big storyline out of tonight that I wanna talk about, and that is the introduction to fourth round pick, pick 125 in the NFL Draft, rookie wide receiver Skyler Bell.
Now, this was the first we got to see Bell in the preseason, as he had been dealing with a groin injury since August 8th when the Buffalo Bills had the blue and red practice at Highmark Stadium.
He was just on the practice field this past Monday for the first time.
So this is all fresh to the Buffalo Bills coaching staff.
And boy, Skyler Bell popped off the tape immediately.
Seven grabs for 49 yards, being used in a lot of different ways.
He heated up in the Bill's two-minute drill at the end of the first half, and then capped everything off with a 28-yard rushing touchdown on an end around in the second half.
Joe Brady acknowledged this after the game and said, "You know, it's been a while."
You go from not getting a, getting a lot of reps, to having one real full-speed practice, to being used a ton in the game tonight, and th- you could tell the moment wasn't too big for him.
It was really just special to see, to be quite honest with you.
Like, we all know Skyler Bell is going to make this Bill's roster, obviously, being a fourth-round pick, but how much will he be used?
Now, I don't know, but first impressions are everything, and in a first game, although it be a preseason game, Skyler Bell passed every test.
And now Joe Brady did say as well, there's going to naturally be a lot of things that he will want to clean up, which is true.
I mean, this is his first game back after being bruised up.
There are going to be plays on tape that he will view and the coaching staff will view as negative, and that is completely fine.
But the positive with Skyler Bell tonight far outweighed the negative.
And that touchdown run, man, Joe Brady had something to say about it that I thought was really interesting as well.
Joe Brady said, "I called the jet sweep for him.
The play before, we threw a ball to him, so he was last second getting back to the huddle, and I didn't know after calling the play how it would go considering he had just gotten back to the huddle so late.
And y- you know, boom, once he got the ball in his hands, you could feel the speed.
He made the most of it and got a bl- great block from Pettis, and it was really good to get him back out there."
So I think Joe Brady and the staff will make a lot of note out of Skyler Bell's performance.
Now, stuff like this, if he keeps taking advantage of opportunities, we could see him getting more reps in the rotation of the wide receiver room earlier on in the season.
We don't know how exactly it will shake out, but again, the most Skyler Bell can make out of his opportunities now, there going to be a lot of practice in the next couple weeks before the Bills' week one game in Houston against the Texans.
That's the best spot he can put himself in.
You can clearly see Joe Brady is able to use him in different ways.
They target him through the air, and they give him a run on the ground.
So the more versatile he is as well is going to help out in the long run, too.
I know we don't put a ton of stock into the preseason.
It was cool, though, to see the Bills finish 3 and 0 with their new head coach, Joe Brady.
I'm excited to see what they do here in a couple weeks in the regular season, and how this 53-man roster shakes out on Sunday
