Once a player gets hurt, they always seem to get hurt. Joey Bosa was a tremendous NFL Draft prospect coming out of Ohio State 10 years ago. He was the No. 3 overall pick by the then-San Diego Chargers in the 2016 NFL Draft. Despite being the first non-quarterback taken, one thing has been constant throughout his career: The injuries. Great whenever he is out there, but he is always hurt...
On Tuesday, Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott let reporters know that everybody is present for OTAs except for running back James Cook and the newcomer from the Los Angeles Chargers. Bosa apparently pulled his calf and will be out for the foreseeable future. McDermott later revealed that Bosa is not going to likely be back and healthy for the Bills until around the start of training camp.
So far in his NFL career, Bosa has missed 41 regular-season games in nine seasons with the Chargers. He appeared in just 16 games twice before the 2021 NFL season, and has never played in all 17 games in a year since the league expanded the slate. We are talking about a guy who has missed nearly two and a half years of his career in a 17-game format due to injury before he was 30.
Bosa has an outside shot at getting to 100 career sacks, but health never seems to be on his side.
This may be part of the reason why the Chargers let him walk when they did this past NFL offseason.
All the while, this is not what McDermott and his team need ahead of a critical season for the Bills.
Joey Bosa got hurt almost immediately upon going to the Buffalo Bills
No, Bosa is no scrub, nor is he a washed player at this point of his career. Yes, he may be firmly on the back-nine, but I really just want to see him put it all together one last time before he fully exits his prime as an NFL player. If he were to play a full 17 games, he is going to get about 11.5 sacks. Do that two seasons in a row, and we are talking about a guy on the cusp of getting to 100 in his career at 95.
I think Bosa going to a team that has serious Super Bowl aspirations will only further incentivize him to get on the field sooner. He may be trying his best right now as is, but injuries and not always being available are a part of his NFL legacy now. Sometimes I wonder what he could have been for the Bolts if he was an iron man who never missed games. At least he is not missing time in the season with this.
As far as what we could expect to see out of year 10 for him professionally and in his first season with the Bills, look for him to play about 10 games and get around 5.5 sacks for the Super Bowl contenders out of the AFC East. With his 30th birthday coming out, keep in mind we have seen far less injury-prone players fall off cliffs precipitously as they age. Bosa has to find a way to stay healthy.
McDermott may have wanted him on the team, but this is why Los Angeles made Bosa available.