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Published: September 04, 2008 11:24 pm
BILLS: James Hardy rookie card
By Jay Skurski
E-mail Jay
Patience, as frustrating as it can be, is one of the lessons James Hardy has learned during his short career with the Buffalo Bills.
The wide receiver from Indiana with the basketball height, Hardy was chosen in the second round, 41st overall, filling the Bills’ most glaring need heading into the draft. Just like that, the jump ball became an option for the offense.
While it takes most rookie receivers a few years to adjust to the NFL level, there’s no time for that on an offense that set a team record for fewest touchdowns in a season a year ago.
That’s why a nagging hamstring injury that kept him out of two preseason games and plenty of reps at training camp made Hardy anxious.
Patience, James, patience.
“I really looked at it like, ‘OK, I can’t be out there, because if I’m out there it’s going to be lingering the entire year.’ I just had to get more mental reps,” he said. “I had to watch more film and break things down that way.”
Hardy was able to take the field for the Bills’ final preseason game against Detroit. Though he finished with a modest two catches for 30 yards, just being on the field helped him clear a mental hurdle.
“It was huge for me to come in and actually get a couple of balls,” he said. “I’m just trying to get used to that contact that comes with the NFL.”
Bills coach Dick Jauron made it clear Wednesday the Bills still have big plans for Hardy, despite the injury.
“I think we have to expect a lot out of him,” Jauron said. “He won’t have the whole playbook. You know, he missed significant time in training camp and it was a nagging injury, and what it did to him was put him in a position … where he couldn’t do what he needed and what we needed, which was play faster. … He wasn’t at a point where he was thinking about what he was supposed to do, he was just reacting with that size and that ability, and that’s where we need him. We’ve got to expect him to do that. If he’s going to be active, and we anticipate he will be, we’re going to get him on the field.”
That’s exactly where Hardy wants to be.
“There are a lot of expectations and I’m just trying to come in and fulfill them the best I can,” he said.
Contact reporter Jay Skurski at 693-1000, Ext. 117.
• POSITION: Wide receiver
• AGE: 22
• DRAFT: Second round, 41st overall
• COLLEGE: Indiana
• HEIGHT: 6-foot-5
• WEIGHT: 220
• HOMETOWN: Fort Wayne, Ind.
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