Orchard Park, NY (WGR550) - Meeting the media for the first time since his team acquired Amani Hooker on Tuesday, Bills head coach Joe Brady said he's excited to add the 8-year veteran and praised his football intelligence, not ruling out the possibility he could play as soon as Sunday when the Bills face the New York Jets.
"Going against him in his career, obviously he has a knack of finding the football," Brady said of Hooker, who is currently tied with Xavier McKinney of the Green Bay Packers for the NFL lead with five interceptions.
The Bills acquired Hooker in a trade with the Tennessee Titans on Tuesday. They also received a fifth-round pick in next year's draft, and sent the Titans back a second-round pick next year in the deal.
"Just talking with him in the limited time, I've been in communication with him the last couple of days, you can just see his football intelligence," Brady said. "He's a cerebral guy. Feels like he'll be able to pick up the system fast and be able to kinda go with it and see that with the way that he plays."
When asked if Hooker may be able to suit up this weekend, Brady said, "he's a vet. He's played a lot of football. Sometimes it's just about learning the terminology, and it might have meant this in one place, but now it's this. I think these guys usually pick it up at a fast rate. We'll just take it day-by-day and see how much he can process and how fast he can and what he can handle and communicate. And whatever he can handle we'll ask him to do that."
The Bills held a walk-through practice on Wednesday. Brady said they wouldn't really have any physical reps, that things would be mostly mental, so he doesn't have an indication yet on the status of any injured players headed into this weekend's game.
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