Wide receiver Robert Foster reported for his first NFL offseason program last year as a long shot to stick with the Buffalo Bills. He won’t be in that situation when April arrives this year.

During the 2018 season, Foster led the NFL in yards per catch (for players with at least 25 receptions) at 20.04, joined Amari Cooper, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Michael Thomas as the only players since 2015 with at least three 100-yard games as rookies and became the first Buffalo player with a 25-yard-or-longer reception in six consecutive games in 32 years.

And Foster did almost all of that in half a season.

Foster made the Bills’ regular-season roster as an undrafted rookie from Alabama. But six games into the campaign, he had two catches for 30 yards. That’s when he got a talking to from running back LeSean McCoy, a six-time Pro Bowler who thought his young teammate could be a lot better than he was showing Buffalo’s coaching staff.

“Shady came up to me and said, ‘Look, this ain’t college no more. You haven’t done anything since you’ve been here,’” Foster said. “That’s big props to Shady for doing that. I always felt like I worked hard. Shady was the first one in the Bills organization to check me here. That’s why I give him props. There are a lot of people who spoke to me, but not one-on-one in an angry manner. He wanted the best out of me.”

The next day, the Bills waived Foster, then re-signed him for their practice squad.

“When he came back on the practice squad, we talked again," McCoy said, “and I could see his approach was different. I told him, ‘Hey man, I see the difference.’ This was before he started playing well.”

After three weeks on the practice squad, Foster rejoined Buffalo's active roster and immediately produced the Bills' first 100-yard receiving game since Oct. 22, 2017. In his first NFL start, Foster caught three passes for 105 yards in a 41-10 victory over the New York Jets on Nov. 11.

The next week, Foster caught his first touchdown pass -- a 75-yarder -- in a 24-21 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars. After the Bills released their No. 2 and No. 3 receivers, Kelvin Benjamin and Andre Holmes, on Dec. 9, Foster posted 100-yard outings in consecutive games.

Foster finished the season with 27 receptions for 541 yards and three touchdowns.

“He still has ways to go, and he knows that, but he has such tremendous speed,” Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll said. “You have to combine the speed with actually being able to play fast and hear the play call and go out there and execute at a fast tempo. Be on the same page with the quarterback, understand all the responsibilities and the route adjustments that come along with playing.

"We’ll just have to keep building that relationship between him and (quarterback) Josh (Allen). All the little intricacies that come with throwing with anticipation, breaking when we need to break, being where we need to be. But they made progress each and every week, and I expect that to continue.”

Daboll also served as Foster's offensive coordinator in his senior season at Alabama, when the wide receiver caught 14 passes for 174 yards and one touchdown. During his injury-filled college career, Foster had 35 receptions for 389 yards and three touchdowns.

But Foster also had the examples set by Alabama’s main targets during his time with the Crimson Tide -- Cooper and Calvin Ridley.

“I embraced it,” Foster told the Bills’ official website. “By watching them, I learned from them -- how they release, how they run their routes, their hand-eye coordination.

"I think Calvin Ridley and Amari Cooper are some of the best route runners I’ve ever seen. I had no problem watching them because I developed more as a player by watching them, and I’m still growing.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.