It was back on November 25 of last year that Buffalo Bills Pro Bowl cornerback Tre’Davious White suffered a torn ACL in a game against the New Orleans Saints. It came on Thanksgiving and was a major blow for a Bills team that had Super Bowl aspirations.
Fast forward almost a year, and the Bills will return White to the mix as they visit the Detroit Lions on Turkey Day.
It has been a long road to recovery for the former first-round pick out of LSU. Many thought that he’d have a chance to return earlier in the season. But both sides opted to play this close to the vest given his importance to the Bills and their success.
Related: Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions bold predictions
Impact of Tre’Davious White returning for the Buffalo Bills
Buffalo heads into Week 12 ranked in the middle of the pack stopping the pass. Though, its secondary has been darn good as evidenced by the fact that opposing quarterbacks have thrown 12 touchdowns against 13 interceptions in 10 games against this unit.
Dane Jackson continues to prove himself as one of the best young cornerbacks in the game. Despite an injury concern earlier this year, the third-year player has yielded a 54% completion and 67.7 QB rating when targeted.
As for White, it’s been clear for some time that he’s among the best cornerbacks in the NFL when the 27-year-old is actually on the field. He earned All-Pro honors in both 2019 and 2020, recording a combined nine interceptions in the process. He also put up some tremendous advanced numbers in 2021 before going down with the aforementioned ACL injury.
- Tre’Davious White stats (2021): 41 tackles, 6 passes defended, 1 INT, 51.6% completion, 59.9 QB rating allowed
For a Bills team that heads into Thanksgiving’s matchup having lost two of three, getting someone of this ilk back is huge. Whether White finds himself on a pitch count against Jared Goff and Co. remains to be seen.