There are a couple players with very interesting back stories who we may see for the first time this season in this Bills-Jets game.

Jets receiver David Clowney is replacing Brad Smith, who is still feeling the after-effects of a concussion he received after a vicious hit from Patrick Willis at San Francisco in Week 14. Clowney is a second-year player and has not been active yet this regular season, but led the AFC with 222 receiving yards in the preseason. He’s a speed demon who has been clocked running a 4.37 40-yard dash.

Clowney did something amazing this past August: He took in his 10-year-old brother and is now raising him on his own. Clowney’s mom is sick, and he wasn’t happy with the area where his brother was being raised. He’s certainly someone to cheer for.

Bills quarterback Gibran Hamdan may make his season debut, backing up J.P. Losman. Hamdan is the son of a Palestinian father and a Pakistani mother. Hamdan was born in San Diego, grew up in Kuwait, and was vacationing in San Diego during the first Iraqi war when he and his family found out their house had been destroyed. He never went back to live there.

Hamdan went to Indiana to play baseball and basketball. He backed up Antwaan Randle El for three years before earning the starting job his senior year. After being drafted by Washington in the seventh round, he spent time as a journeyman in Seattle, San Francisco and Miami before landing with the Bills. He’s been on the active roster since last October. He’s an interesting guy, and an even more interesting dresser. He walked off the bus today sporting a bright purple ascot, and I dare say he pulled it off.

– Kara Henderson reporting from New Jersey.

Posted in: NFL Network  | comments  |