Stevie Johnson may have been the only name worth mentioning among the Buffalo Bills' wide receiving corps a couple years ago, but things have changed.
A few high-level drafts picks, coupled with a move to San Francisco for the seven-year vet, has things looking much different in Buffalo than they did when Johnson was tallying 1,000-yard seasons.
The former fan favorite isn't holding any grudges about the way things went down, though. Back in his hometown on the West Coast, he now working to help round out a depth chart that includes the likes of Anquan Boldin and Michael Crabtree on a team that's now a perennial Super Bowl prediction.
That doesn't mean the cross-country move still wasn't a surprise.
"Honestly, I thought I’d be there at least one or two more years," Johnson told Don Banks of SI.com. "I thought we were building a team. You see them draft a guy, but in that division you try to get as much talent as you can. But the new coaches came in and they did what they did and more power to them.
"Hopefully they’ll do well, but yeah, I did. I thought I’d be a Buffalo Bill for the rest of my career."
Things seem to be going just fine for the Bills' squad since Johnson's departure, as the additions of rookie Sammy Watkins and veteran Mike Williams have rounded out a group of young receivers with a ton of raw talent. Johnson even complimented the abilities of his ex-teammates, saying there is more than one guy on the roster capable of taking over his place as the team's leading receiver.
"All those guys have talent," Johnson said. "Marquise Goodwin, you don’t always hear too much about him, but he can get 1,000 (yards). Robert Woods is a straight baller. He can get 1,000. Sammy (Watkins), he’s a baller, too.
"They have a bunch of playmakers out there. You just have to get them the ball."
