Should the Buffalo Bills keep Leonard Hankerson?
Clearly, the Buffalo Bills free agent priorities are Richie Incognito and Cordy Glenn, and then everyone else falls behind them as afterthoughts. However, one of those “afterthought” players is wide receiver Leonard Hankerson, and the Bills lack of settled depth at the wide receiver position could make him someone worth re-signing.
Recently, Buffalo Bills GM Doug Whaley stated that the Bills will have to create a platoon to mold their own WR2 production opposite of Sammy Watkins, unless if they are able to get a “bona fide” No. 2 wideout. Although we should take this with a grain of salt since he also dropped Greg Little‘s name, Whaley mentioned that Leonard Hankerson could join Robert Woods and Greg Salas as part of that mix-and-match group at wide receiver.
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It’s more plausible for Hankerson to end up being a No. 3 or 4 option in the Bills passing attack if brought back, as opposed to someone sharing No. 2 WR snaps. That said, he has more experience as a No. 2 receiver than everyone but Woods, since that was the role he filled for the Atlanta Falcons last season before being quizzically and unceremoniously released.
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Following a stint with the New England Patriots, Hankerson joined the Bills for one game. Though he didn’t record any stats in Week 17 against the New York Jets in just 12 snaps (to compare, Salas took the field 33 times on offense against his old team), he did help free up Watkins underneath by running a clear-out route.
In his ten appearances in 2015 that were spread across three teams, Hankerson caught just 56.5% of everything thrown at him for 7.1 yards per target. Those numbers aren’t worthy of praise, but Hankerson did score three touchdowns. More importantly, as we saw on that one play in Week 17, he gave his offenses dynamic speed.
At the beginning of the season, Hankerson did a great job of clearing up space for superstar receiver Julio Jones, and after he went down with an injury and was later released, the Falcons missed that extra “oomph” he gave the passing attack. Ideally, he shouldn’t have been their No. 2 receiver, but, well, Atlanta looked better with his speed out there as the WR2 than they did with the plodding Roddy White re-inserted as the team’s No. 2 receiver.
Assuming the Chicago Bears wisely hold onto Alshon Jeffery after unwisely parting ways with Brandon Marshall last offseason, the wide receiver free agent market will be thin. Marvin Jones, Mohamed Sanu, James Jones, Jermaine Kearse, Rueben Randle, Rod Streater, and Brian Quick are among the top unrestricted free agents available.
A No. 3 option at best- and more likely a No. 4 option- Hankerson’s market wouldn’t be robust by any means, but he would be an intriguing option. After all, he runs the forty in the low 4.4s and is a good deep threat. Unfortunately, he’s also 27 now, dealt with injuries last season, and isn’t a consistent player.
The Bills also have to be wary of how Glenn’s situation when looking at their low-priority free agents, such as Nigel Bradham and, to a greater extent, the less valuable Hankerson. If the Bills, for some unforeseen reason, aren’t able to keep Glenn around, they need to hope that they lose more free agents than they sign in order to get compensation (which would be significant) from losing their franchise left tackle. That’s just something to chew on.
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I like Hankerson as a potential field-stretcher for the Bills, but I would rather see them address the position with a big receiver with some speed in the draft via a mid-round pick. I think the Bills have enough depth-quality receivers, so if they want to go with someone who can stretch the field, they should go with a better player, specifically one who, again, fills out another missing trait. Hankerson isn’t a small receiver at 6’1″, but the Bills could use some more size on the outside to help out Watkins.