The Buffalo Bills are set to take on the Chicago Bears in each team's pre-season opener tonight at Soldier Field. Thanks to yesterday's trade of receiver Lee Evans to Baltimore - not to mention the fact that Roscoe Parrish will miss tonight's game with a hamstring injury - things are going to look remarkably different for the Bills at the receiver position.
I've been asked countless times in the past 24 hours what Buffalo's receiving corps would look like without Evans. I attempted to answer that question yesterday. I've also been asked what the receiving corps will look like tonight; here's my best guess on that front:
- Stevie Johnson will start, of course, and play a quarter - perhaps slightly less. He's the man now, so expect his on-field stay to be a short one.
- David Nelson, Donald Jones and Naaman Roosevelt will all work in with the ones in some capacity, and likely in that pecking order for now.
- Marcus Easley and Buster Davis will get a lot of action tonight, and I consider the duo enough of a wild card that it wouldn't shock me to see them get some very early reps with the ones, as well.
- Felton Huggins, Paul Hubbard and rookie Kamar Aiken will round out the depth chart, and I expect each to get long looks as well - particularly Huggins, who seemed to be a Chan Gailey favorite last summer before getting hurt.