The Bills made a difficult decision on Friday as they placed Sammy Watkins on injured reserve, and immediately addressed the loss at receiver signing free agent Justin Hunter.

Watkins has been battling pain in his surgically repaired foot since the season opener at Baltimore. He played just four days after the opener in the Bills Thursday night game against the Jets on Sept. 15th, but has not been on the practice field since.

The team's decision to shut Watkins down was anything but surprising. Head coach Rex Ryan said on Friday that he had "major concerns" that Watkins foot problem could be a long term issue.

Related players: Robert Woods, Greg Salas, Marquise Goodwin, Justin Hunter

Watkins can potentially return in Week 12, so he's droppable in most formats without an injured reserve slot. He's worth a stash in leagues with big benches, but the chances of Watkins coming back in Week 12 or Week 13 and being a big fantasy asset seem pretty slim. It's not out of the realm of possibility, however. In the meantime, Robert Woods seems to be the best bet for weekly PPR production in the Buffalo receiving corps. He caught six passes for 51 yards on eight targets last week, but historically hasn't shown much of a rapport with Tyrod Taylor. The loss of Watkins is a big blow to Taylor's 2016 fantasy stock, though he'll occasionally put up a big game given his explosive running ability and propensity to throw the deep ball. We wouldn't get too excited about Justin Hunter, though the change of scenery might be good for him. Once Salas gets healthy, he could be a PPR option, a la Cole Beasley.

Rex Ryan says likelihood is "probably not real good" Sammy Watkins will play Sunday, but Bills still holding out hope he can suit up. Ryan says Bills will still play him despite him not practicing this week.

Related players: Marquise Goodwin, Robert Woods, Greg Salas

We were told it was an issue with pain tolerance, not an injury, but Watkins did not look good in Week 2. The Bills will likely turn to Marquise Goodwin and Robert Woods to replace Watkins, though Greg Salas will also be heavily involved.

He didn’t tell a soul outside Buffalo’s locker room, but Robert Woods had no explosiveness to his game in 2015 after tearing his groin on both the left and right side. The fact that he played through that injury for about half the season is hard to fathom knowing the demands of his position when it comes to cutting, twisting, changing direction and leaping.

Following offseason surgery and a length rehab process, Woods is a different player, a unique player.

Woods has always been a solid receiver off the line. Though not a physically imposing receiver at 6-0 and 190 pounds, Woods is crafty at getting clean releases at the start of his routes. What was demonstrably different about his game in the spring practices was how quick and sudden he was off the line of scrimmage at the snap. It is a dramatic step up in explosiveness for Woods and it’s a significant enhancement to his personal game.

“His drive phase is one of the best on the team,” said Lal. “He comes off every ball like he’s running a go route. He’s really gotten a good job of holding that longer in his routes at break, he’s in and out of his cuts. The best I’ve seen him. Again, I’m proud of him because he had the surgery, and I said, ‘Promise me you’ll go run with a track coach. Go on the track and run.’ And he did, and it’s showing here.”

“Being back at USC I got back on the track just to get back to my playing speed,” Woods said. “Speed is the most important part of this game. I’m getting my stride back and I’m feeling very explosive. I felt like I lacked that last year with the injury and I didn’t want it impact me again this year. So I wanted to try to open back up and be an explosive receiver.”

In the 21 games over the past two years where Woods has seen five-plus targets, he has played at a 70-755-3.8 pace, which are solid WR4 numbers in PPR formats. Now that he's fully healthy, he could be primed for a mini-breakout (especially if Sammy Watkins' foot injury lingers longer than expected). Remember, at 24 years-old, he's quite young for a fourth-year receiver.

Buffalo Bills wide receiver Robert Woods is likely to miss the remainder of the season because of a groin injury.

Coach Rex Ryan updated Woods' status on Monday following the Bills' 35-25 loss at Washington.

Woods finished the game, but Ryan said the injury is severe enough to end Woods' season, according to the story. While he hasn't officially been placed on IR as of yet, owners should be prepared to be without him for Weeks 16 and 17.