The Buffalo Bills made one of the biggest trades at the deadline on Tuesday when they acquired safety Amani Hooker from the Tennessee Titans.
It was a trade that was sorely needed, as the Bills had a major need at the safety position, even before the release of C.J. Gardner-Johnson.
The only concern was that Hooker would only have mere days to grasp as much of the playbook as he can before the Bills meet the New York Jets on Sunday afternoon and he might not be ready to make his Bills debut right away.
Well, the Bills have since confirmed what Hooker’s status is for Sunday.
Bills confirm Amani Hooker’s Week 10 status
Hooker did say in his first media availability with the team that he would play, so that was the first sign he would go.
“Oh I’m gonna play on Sunday. Yeah. I’ll be ready to go,” Hooker said.
However, the decision isn’t just up to the player. The coaching staff has to be comfortable that he knows enough of the playbook to be sent out there after just a handful of days with the team.
Apparently, the Bills do feel comfortable with Hooker, as head coach Joe Brady confirmed Hooker is “definitely going to play.”
Will Amani Hooker play limited snaps?
So, now that we know Hooker is going to suit up, the next question is: will Hooker play a full workload?
With the Titans, Hooker played nearly every snap, but it’s fair to wonder if he’ll be ready to do so for the Bills in Week 10.
Brady did not have a definitive answer for that and said the team would evaluate the practice tape.
However, he also noted that he and defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard have been impressed with how quickly Hooker has picked everything up.
“Everything that we were told about or that we’ve known about him has kind of held true,” he stated. “Jim’s been extremely impressed with how quickly he’s able to pick stuff up, be able to communicate in our language and kind of go from there. “
“We’ll evaluate the tape today and kind of get a feel of what does it look like in terms of play time going into the game. From a comfort level we don’t want to put him out there and do anything that is not fair to him and the team. But he’s been extremely impressive and excited he’s definitely going to play and excited to see whatever that role looks like,” Brady added.
None of what Brady said is surprising at all. We know Hooker is a high IQ football player from his days with the Titans and we fully expected him to get acclimated rather quickly.
From the sounds of it, Hooker is grasping things fast enough that he will at least be able to play the majority of snaps for the Bills in his debut.
The majority of the snaps Hooker doesn’t play will likely be soaked up by Damar Hamlin, who started at safety in each of the last two games.
Amani Hooker’s expected role
When Hooker is on the football field, we expected him to play free safety.
Hooker is a well-rounded safety, so he can play anywhere, but he does his best work on the back end, where he’s solid in coverage and has a nose for the football.
We also know the Bills could use an upgrade in that area of the field, as Buffalo enters this game against the Jets sporting the fourth-worst pass defense in the league that has given up a whopping 28 completions of 20-plus yards.
If all goes well, Hooker should help improve both of those issues.
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