Another week of OTAs are in the books as the Buffalo Bills continue to ramp up their conditioning and offseason work to prepare for training camp. As OTAs are voluntary, attendance does vary as noted by the players listed below that are missing.
Though the media only gets access one day out of the week, there are still several injury updates worth noting.
WR Bryan Thompson (Undisclosed)
Thompson missed last week due to an undisclosed injury but returned this week to full participation suggesting this was a minor injury.
OL Travis Clayton (Undisclosed)
Clayton wasn’t seen at practice on Tuesday for undisclosed reasons. However, according to Matt Parrino at Syracuse.com on his podcast notes that Clayton came out at the end of the session. Whether this is an acclimation issue or something totally unrelated, it’s worth noting to potentially establish a timeline if we get updates.
OT Tommy Doyle (Left ACL)
Doyle continues to be present but not practice, further reinforcing how significant his knee injury really was. He was still on crutches at the end of 2023 around Thanksgiving but due to the multi-ligament damage and nerve damage, his recovery continues to be a slow one.
Do not be surprised if Doyle is a PUP candidate to begin training camp as these injuries can take well over a year to return. For more information, check out the article below.
OT Spencer Brown (Right Shoulder)
Brown continues to ramp up his participation during OTAs to individual drills as he recovers from his right shoulder surgery this offseason, specifically a torn labrum suffered against the Kansas City Chiefs.
His lower body conditioning and mobility should be rounding into form, the big concern is making sure he does not stress the still healing labrum in the shoulder. Coming from personal experience, it is a terrible feeling to go through all the rehab and time away only to re-tear everything that was surgically repaired.
His strength is still not likely where it needs to be in his shoulder from a stability point to block and shed his assignments nor should it be at this point in time. He’s making solid progress and this becomes a time dependent thing.
S Mike Edwards (Right Shoulder)
Last week we got news that Edwards was out with a shoulder injury that would cost him 3-4 weeks. He is also ramping up working off to the side.
The only update is that his right shoulder is the injured side as evident with the sully brace he is wearing below. This suggests a potential labrum or rotator cuff issue though not confirmed. This is something to watch closely as minicamp approaches to see if he participates.
I am slightly concerned due to the presence of the brace, but hopeful the team is being more cautionary than anything.
LB Matt Milano (Right Knee)
Milano continues to progress back from his right tibial plateau fracture with the first running and drills we’ve seen since the injury. In the first shot, we see him running away from the camera so we get a nice look from behind. The running pattern looks even even as he slows down but it would not surprise me if he is sore or feel the pressure of increasing the workload.
In the second clip, he is focusing on his acceleration/deceleration which looks pretty good in that he doesn’t appear to be compensating. These are only small shots of how he is moving in one direction, we have yet to see him string together several hours of work from a running/conditioning standpoint and change of direction.
The biggest issue at this point is ramping him up too quickly and causing pain/inflammation in the knee leading to further arthritic changes.
Overall, far less injury concerns than last week with several positive updates. We have more information on several players and getting a clearer idea on who will be available for mandatory minicamp and even training camp. Continue to check back for the latest updates, news, and signings.
Top Photo Credit: USA Today
