LB · Buffalo Bills · week 6 vs Las Vegas Raiders · Sun Oct 18 · 4:25 PM ET
TJ Parker
ROLE a starter
CLASS 2026 · R2 P35
EXP 0 seasons
AGE under 25
DEPTH SLB2
82%PLAYLIKELY
As of week 6, TJ Parker was an LB for BUF, age 21.9, a rookie, drafted in round 2. In 2026 through week 5 he was listed at depth rank 2 on his club's depth chart; he had played 5 games on 21% of snaps; his line was 2.8 tackles a game, 0.1 sacks a game and 0 passes defended a game. No injury episode was on file.
The full read
How our call moved this week
100500
82%82%82%82%82%82%82%82%82%82%82%82%
Fri 7:01 AM ETSun 12:29 PM ET
our call, P(plays)
82% LIKELY → 82% LIKELY
Every call we wrote for him this week, earliest first, as written.
In short
TJ Parker is a starter at strong-side linebacker for BUF — 62% of the snaps in his best week of 6. He has a rib injury. This week he practised in full every day the report covers. His team has not listed him on the final report. We say he plays — 82%, in a band that plays 76% of the time. We have said PLAY since 57 hours before kickoff.
The reader concurs · grade B
A club-adjacent midweek report dated 15 Oct, inside this practice week, lists "OLB TJ Parker" among "Bills players with full practice" (P2), matching the model's FULL practice input and supporting the PLAY call. The same report notes he is one of "the only new names here" (P2), i.e. he is returning upward off the rib issue rather than newly injured, and the club's own photo log independently places "TJ Parker (99)" on the field at the 15 Oct practice (P1). Nothing in either passage contradicts the PLAY call; the remaining gap is the end-of-week practice and the final designation, which is why this is B and not A. It would need to know: Bills official participation report for Friday 16 Oct and Saturday 17 Oct — did TJ Parker remain a full participant?; The week's final injury report game-status designation for Parker (Out/Doubtful/Questionable/none) ahead of Sun 18 Oct; Any Sean McDermott or club comment on Parker's rib injury or a snap-count/rotation limit for Sun 18 Oct; Bills inactives list published ~90 minutes before the Sun 18 Oct kickoff; Whether fellow edge/OLBs (Rousseau, Chubb, Hoecht, Danna) are out, which would raise his need to dress
12versions this week
9average, every player
29most for one player
How the call moved
LIKELY since Fri Oct 16 · 7:01 AM ET · 57 h before kickoff. Biggest move: 82% → 82%, Fri Oct 16 · 3:49 PM ET to Fri Oct 16 · 5:02 PM ET, with no club report in between.
This week's call
NOT EXPECTEDUNLIKELYCOIN FLIPLIKELYEXPECTED
82% · LIKELY
likely to play — this band plays 76% of the time (75–78%), measured out of fold. We do not stand behind a call in this band, and say so rather than dress it up.
Practice this week
Fri
Thu
FPdated Fri Oct 16
FPdated Fri Oct 16
Shape of the week: steady. Only days the publisher dated are shown; a day we could not date is left out until the nightly sweep stamps it. The shape is a fact, not a forecast.
Head start
Our call
Kickoff
Stats, with ranges — dot = his average, bar = his game range
Tackles / game3.2 range 1.0–5.0
wk 1–6 · 5 games
Sacks / game0.1 range 0.0–0.5
wk 1–6 · 5 games
Passes defended / game0.0 range 0.0–0.0
wk 1–6 · 5 games
Snap share27.7% range 13–62
wk 1–6 · 6 games
Snaps by week — his larger of the offence and defence share
18%wk 1
26%wk 2
13%wk 3
26%wk 4
21%wk 5
62%wk 6
Missed while on the injury report
Season
Weeks on the report
Missed while listed
2026
1
0
Only the weeks he was on the injury report with a recorded result — not every game of his career.
Medical history
When
Injury
Weeks on a report
Worst status
2026 · wk 6
chest
1
—
Every injury episode on file for him, as the record holds it.
Injury history by season · 1 episode · 1 week on a report
2026
chest · 1w
Weeks 1–18
listed, and played
Each bar is one episode: the week it began and how many weeks he was on a report, coloured by the worst status.
Our past calls vs what happened
Wk 6PLAY 82% ✓ rightbefore his team said anything; played
Season on him: 1 of 1 graded call of ours right. Graded by the record: right or a miss against whether he played. A week we did not call, or his club's own word, is not graded.
The rest of his team's report this week
Player
Pos
Practice
Whose word
Call
Chance he plays
Band
DJ Moore
WR
LTD
team's word
Questionable
Bradley Chubb
LB
FULL
ours
PLAY
99%
EXPECTED
Ed Oliver
DE
LTD
team's word
Questionable
C.J. Gardner-Johnson
S
FULL
ours
PLAY
97%
EXPECTED
Ty Johnson
RB
FULL
ours
PLAY
97%
EXPECTED
Michael Danna
LB
UNK
team's word
—
Spencer Brown
T
FULL
ours
PLAY
99%
EXPECTED
Josh Palmer
WR
LTD
team's word
Questionable
Dee Alford
CB
LTD
team's word
Questionable
Terrel Bernard
LB
LTD
ours
PLAY
96%
EXPECTED
Christian Benford
CB
FULL
ours
PLAY
97%
EXPECTED
Tyrell Shavers
WR
UNK
team's word
—
Te'Cory Couch
DB
UNK
ours
PLAY
56%
COIN FLIP
Keon Coleman
WR
FULL
ours
PLAY
91%
EXPECTED
Landon Jackson
DE
FULL
ours
PLAY
88%
EXPECTED
Jordan Hancock
CB
UNK
team's word
—
Dorian Strong
CB
UNK
team's word
—
T.J. Sanders
DE
FULL
team's word
Questionable
Zane Durant
DT
UNK
team's word
—
Ar'maj Reed-Adams
G
FULL
team's word
—
Jude Bowry
OT
UNK
team's word
—
The model reads the room: who else is out shifts what his own designation is worth.
The data behind this page — the timeline in words, every call and week on record, about him, and what this page does not show
Profile — as of week 6
Role
LB2 · 21% snaps
Season
2026 · 5 games through wk 5
Per game
2.8 tackles · 0.1 sacks · 0 passes defended
Injuries
none on file
Bio
age 21.9 · rookie · drafted round 2
Where the profile comes from
Built from: honors.db; nflverse injuries_2026.csv; medical.db; nflverse players.csv; profile.db; nflverse roster_2026.csv; nflverse roster_weekly_2026.csv; nflverse snap_counts_2026.csv; nflverse stats_player_week_2026.csv. Every number in it is one those sources hold.
a starter at strong-side linebacker — 62% of the snaps in his best week of 6
Listed on the depth chart
second at strong-side linebacker
Snaps played
28% a week on average over 6 weeks, 62% at his highest, 52% on special teams
Build
6 ft 3 in · 263 lb
College
Clemson
Drafted
2026, round 2 pick 35, by BUF
Age
under 25 at the season's start
Experience
0 seasons
When this call was made, and when the world knew
WrittenWe first said PLAY.
PublicOur call became public, at kickoff.
KickoffKickoff.
How our call moved, earliest first
When
Lead
Call
Chance he plays
Band
On what
Fri Oct 16 · 7:01 AM ET
57 h
PLAY
82%
LIKELY
before his team said anything
Fri Oct 16 · 12:01 PM ET
52 h
PLAY
82%
LIKELY
before his team said anything
Fri Oct 16 · 3:49 PM ET
49 h
PLAY
82%
LIKELY
before his team said anything
Fri Oct 16 · 5:02 PM ET
47 h
PLAY
82%
LIKELY
before his team said anything
Fri Oct 16 · 5:21 PM ET
47 h
PLAY
82%
LIKELY
before his team said anything
Fri Oct 16 · 7:56 PM ET
45 h
PLAY
82%
LIKELY
before his team said anything
Sat Oct 17 · 7:02 AM ET
33 h
PLAY
82%
LIKELY
before his team said anything
Sat Oct 17 · 12:02 PM ET
28 h
PLAY
82%
LIKELY
before his team said anything
Sat Oct 17 · 5:01 PM ET
23 h
PLAY
82%
LIKELY
before his team said anything
Sun Oct 18 · 7:01 AM ET
9 h
PLAY
82%
LIKELY
before his team said anything
Sun Oct 18 · 12:02 PM ET
4 h
PLAY
82%
LIKELY
before his team said anything
Sun Oct 18 · 12:29 PM ET
4 h
PLAY
82%
LIKELY
before his team said anything
12 calls this week, and the call never flipped between PLAY and SIT. Each lead time is the one that call actually had when it was written — never recounted from now. A call that changes is the record working: new evidence arrived and we said so, in public, before the game.
His record this season
Wk
Practice
Chance he plays
Call
Source
Played
6
FULL
82%
PLAY
before his team said anything
yes
A blank in Played is a week not yet settled — never a no.