Why Star Lotulelei did not watch every Bills game after opting out
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Star Lotulelei is the lone Buffalo Bills player returning from opting out on playing in 2020 due to COVID-19. If you thought last season he was glued to his television watching his teammates during that time… you’d actually be wrong.
Lotulelei admitted on Tuesday during his first media availability since the end of the 2019 season that he skipped out on some games. It wasn’t for a lack of desire for football, though.
The 31-year-old said from Bills minicamp that it was simply just too hard for him. He missed being out there.
“It was [hard],” Lotulelei said via video conference. “I didn’t watch every game because it was a little tough. Especially that last game. But I was happy that the team was doing so well. The success that they had last year was great. It was a bummer not to be apart of it, but again, I made the decision, I don’t regret it, but I was happy for the guys in there… I was hoping they would have got it done, but it is what it is. I’m back now and we’ll see what happens this year.”
Lotulelei went on to explain his reason for opting wasn’t anything over complicated. A year ago when he decided not to play, that tough decision was made for safety purposes.
“Pretty much just all the uncertainty that was going on at that time,” Lotulelei said. “I felt like it was the best decision for myself and my wife and my kids and that was it.”
Lotulelei coming back into the picture is something the Bills could certainly benefit from. Despite their successes in 2020, their run defense was lacking without him, especially early in the regular season.
Still, Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott isn’t exactly promising anything for the veteran. The coach also said on Tuesday that Lotulelei will get his chance to find his roster spot again, but the team’s coaching staff will certainly monitor the defensive tackle’s game throughout the summer considering the length of his time off.
“At the end of the day we’ll have to see because of the time he’s been out,” McDermott said.
