A wish of many Bills fans during the NFL draft was to address the wide receiver position and the team finally did late on Day 3. The Buffalo Bills selected Maryland WR Kaden Prather in the seventh round, making this the final draft selection.
The 2023 Honorable Mention All-Big Ten selection started his career at West Virginia playing two seasons there before transferring to Maryland for his final two seasons. Over his career, he had 162 receptions for 1,966 yards and 14 touchdowns. He brings a bigger frame with straight line speed down the field that could help bring a deep threat option and depth to the offense along with special teams.
On top of that, Prather doesn’t appear to miss much time.
Read about Kaden Prather’s publicly reported injury history and analysis.
Injury History
2021 West Virginia
Undisclosed, missed 1 game.
Prather did not play in the bowl game against Minnesota according to his game logs.
2022 West Virginia
Concussion, vs Oklahoma, missed 1 game.
Prather missed the Kansas State game due to a reported undisclosed injury and was unable to suit up. Looking at the video, Prather takes a hard hit after a catch and runs up the right side. At the end, he continues to shake his head and stays in for one more play before exiting. In a later report, his coach stated that he had to go through a protocol in order to be ready to play which strongly indicates a concussion.
2023 Maryland
No publicly reported injuries.
2024 Maryland
No publicly reported injuries.
Buffalo Bills Injury Analysis
There isn’t much regarding Prather and in his first media interview with the team, he said that he doesn’t get injured often which is a great sign.
Not playing in a bowl game as a freshman could have been an injury or could have just been he wasn’t active either. As a freshman, those types of issues are typically being reported on. As for his concussion, he took a good hit and went through the concussion protocol. Unfortunately, concussions are part of the game but he has been injury free the last two seasons indicating this isn’t a frequent problem.
Final Thoughts
Prather has a largely uphill battle to make the roster fighting for WR5 with Tyrell Shavers, Jalen Virgil, Laviska Shenault, KJ Hamler, and any other UDFAs that are brought in. This will come down to how he performs and if he can take advantage of any opportunities this spring and summer.
I would like to wish Kaden Prather a warm welcome to the city of Buffalo and to remain healthy this season.
Top Photo Credit: Fantasy Pros
Discover more from Banged Up Bills
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
