Buffalo Bills can’t bring back wide receiver Rod Streater any time soon

The Buffalo Bills are dealing with injuries to top wideout Jordan Matthews and top passing target Charles Clay. Naturally, Bills fans are looking around for replacement options but former Bills receiver Rod Streater can’t be one of them.

In the Bills’ third preseason game, Streater made a nice catch on the sideline but landed awkwardly. The team immediately surrounded him as he was in pain and most feared the worst.

Streater had dislocated his toe on the play and his status for the first part of the season was in doubt. Buffalo didn’t want to use a roster spot on a guy that could be out for extended time and it’s likely they approached Streater telling him he was going to injured reserve.

After a great preseason, Streater looked like a lock to make the team and he didn’t want to stay on the shelf for the remainder of the season, so he and his agent negotiated an injury settlement with the Bills, meaning Buffalo would pay for his rehab costs and Streater would be released.

With the injuries to the Bills receiving corps this month, folks are asking if Streater is healthy and could come back. The answer to the latter is no. An injury settlement works so Streater can still sign with a team this season, but that team won’t be the Bills for a while.

A dislocated toe takes roughly six weeks to heal, so Streater might be healthy or close to healthy, depending on the severity of his injury, but the rules of the settlement prohibit him from returning to Buffalo until six weeks after the length of the injury settlement. If the settlement included the first five weeks of the season, Streater won’t be able to sign in Buffalo until Week 11.

So Streater might be able to return to the NFL soon, but he won’t be available to Buffalo until around Thanksgiving.