The first week of Phase 3 of OTA’s wrapped this week as we saw the Buffalo Bills get back on the field for the first time since their playoff defeat in Denver.
Most of the work they did was ramp up work performing individual drills and more conditioning, but this is where implementation of the 2026 season begins. Media is limited from viewing everything but we certainly do get enough information from players practicing and from the media that the team produces. From this, there are a ton of injury nuggets that help shape the narrative going into the 2026 season.
Read below for all the observations and updates coming out of Week 1.
New Injuries
S CJ Gardner-Johnson (Foot)
Gardner-Johnson was seen by Sal Capaccio off to the side during Tuesday’s practice having his foot taped up by athletic trainers according to their podcast at roughly the 40 minute mark. Sal went on further stating that Gardner-Johnson appeared to be in good spirits later indicating his demeanor was not affected by the injury.
While there isn’t much information, should he begin to miss time, this could be a starting point.
OT Spencer Brown (Undisclosed)
Brown was unable to participate during the Tuesday practice when the media was present, hanging out in a hoodie. We aren’t aware of any surgeries he underwent or any flare ups of his back, but this is similar to Dawkins situation, looking for these observations should we get more information.
Injury Updates
DL Michael Hoecht (Right Achilles)
Tuesday gave us a glimpse into the continued rehab for Michael Hoecht coming off his right Achilles tear on November 2 with surgery on November 6. Below are two videos of Hoecht running with commentary on how he looks.
He is just over six months removed from his surgery and looking at the rehab protocols, knowledge of the injury, and timeline, he is roughly where he should be at. He should be sprinting, jumping, doing polymeric, and performing change of direction activities as we see above. We also got confirmation he was doing some jumping drills according to Sal Capaccio and Matt Bove at the 10 minute mark of their podcast. Should it look perfect? Absolutely not. That’s why he needs to continue rehab and work his way back.
Hoecht had said that he plans to be fully cleared for activity by July 1, according to his appearance on the Centered on Buffalo podcast with Eric Wood. That would put him eight months removed from the injury/surgery. We also know that he underwent surgery with Dr. Neal ElAttrache, one of the best orthopedic surgeons in the country.
While the surgeon does matter in outcomes, it won’t necessarily dramatically shorten his timeline. The body still needs to heal and rehab has to get the tissue working again properly. By the time training camp starts, Hoecht will be just shy of nine months removed from surgery. There is still a distinct possibility that he starts on the PUP list if ElAttrache has not cleared him yet. The training staff has a ton of tools to test Hoecht and show whether he is ready or not. Force plates, isokinetic testing, how Hoecht feels, and comparisons against pre-injury testing will all play into when he’s cleared for full football activity. There won’t be any guessing as to whether he’s ready or not. That’s information we won’t have access to which leads to the outside uncertainty.
I can see a scenario where the team starts him on PUP, he has a follow up with Dr. ElAttrache the beginning of August, they perform testing to show where he’s functionally, and they activate him. This is all barring no setbacks. I don’t expect him to be at pre-injury form until 2027, but athletes and teams can’t wait that long for someone to get to totally prior form. This is why we see dips in production the first year back after injury.
Right now, I don’t see Hoecht as a player that can step on a football field and play right now. I expected that. But two months is an ample amount of time for him to make progress towards that goal. We’ll see where things take us, progress is not linear but the goal to return to the field is expected.
To read more about his original injury, click below.
TE Dalton Kincaid (Left Knee PCL)
We got more clarity on Dalton Kincaid’s knee injury since the last time we heard from him at Joe Brady’s introductory press conference. At the time, it was very surprising that he would not undergo surgery.
He had said that he consulted a number of doctors that advised against it but had said that if he was told he needed surgery, he would have done it. It’s common for surgeons to not perform surgery on the PCL unless there is additional damage, but knowing how long the injury lingered and that rehab didn’t really take last year, it was the expectation that the team would escalate the intervention.
Kincaid went further in talking with the Niagara Gazette’s Nick Sabato stating that he was planning to get surgery before the second opinion told him otherwise. I had heard rumblings of the same plan prior to the season but plans change and smarter people with the information in front of them make the most informed decisions. Additionally, Kincaid has also been working with a new trainer that has helped Kincaid add muscle and work on further stabilization of the knee.
I’m on the outside looking in. I have to trust this plan works because there’s smarter people than me out there, I don’t have every bit of information, and I don’t have a say in the decision making process. I initially questioned what would change from last year to this year since he rehabbed the knee and immediately reinjured it during training camp.
More eyes and a new trainer hopefully will lead to a better outcome this time around. The hope is that he doesn’t fall on the knee again and re-injure it. That could still happen whether he had surgery or not. I just hope that all the work he has been doing has allowed the ligament to actually heal and regain the knee stability for him to play at his highest level.
CB Dorian Strong (Neck)
We haven’t seen much of Dorian Strong since last month when he has been in a soft neck collar during OTA’s.
The fact that he is still in a collar doing rehab in May isn’t promising for him playing in 2026, but we may continue to see him do more in the coming months which may shed light on what his future looks like. Considering he is still in the collar, this would suggest a multi-level fusion.
We could also see some procedural roster moves involving him that may dictate what this upcoming season looks like for his availability.
WR Khalil Shakir (Right Ankle)
Shakir has been a full participant during OTA’s coming off his right ankle surgery from at least early March.
On Tuesday, he was wearing an ankle stabilizer as he participated in practice to protect the healing area. He has had at least two known high-ankle sprains to the same ankle and despite playing through the injury, may have had some instability or pain that warranted fixing the ankle with a possible Tightrope surgery. It’s entirely possible that he had another procedure but considering the bracing and known prior injuries, this is a likely outcome.
Considering he had the surgery in February or even early March, he still has ample time to work on his rehab and recovery to be ready for Week 1.
QB Josh Allen (Right Foot Fracture)
Allen has been a full participant at every OTA practice that he has participated at this offseason after he recovered from his surgery to remove a broken bone from his right foot. There are no concerns moving forward with the injury. To read more about the injury, click below.
WR Joshua Palmer (Left Ankle/Calf/Hip)
Palmer has been working off to the side with training staff as he works back from his injuries that derailed his 2025 season. We don’t have confirmation that Palmer underwent any type of surgery, but he did deal with his high-ankle sprain originally suffered in Week 6 last year that affected his calf and hip. Eventually, the injury worsened to the point where Palmer couldn’t run his entire route tree.
If Palmer did undergo surgery, my bet is the ankle or even the hip, but my money is on the ankle. Once we see him do more actual work, we may get a better idea. We’ve only seen him off to the side but not doing any specific drills yet.
OT Dion Dawkins (Left Leg)
Dawkins has been present at OTA’s but has not been practicing. This comes on the heels after he was spotted in a cam boot on his left foot on May 3.
He has been in the facility working out performing upper body work as recently as May 13 but has not done any on-field activities.
We will see if he increases his workload over the coming weeks, I’m not certain they will unless it’s for mandatory minicamp. We may get more information about the boot or his injury which could help connect the dots.
LB Terrel Bernard (Right Ankle)
Bernard has returned to practice and has generally been a full participant throughout the entire OTA after it was revealed that he underwent surgery sometime this offseason. My suspicion is that he underwent a Brostrom procedure to reconstruct the lateral ankle ligaments and a deltoid ligament repair.
I detailed out his injury, surgery, and timeline in this article back in March.
He doesn’t appear to have any bracing on either ankle and looks to be moving well.
Bernard was interviewed this week discussing how he essentially has to be smarter in his approach to play through injuries. He looks primed to have a big bounce back year.
DB Jordan Hancock (Right Shoulder)
Back on April 14, Joe Buscaglia of The Athletic reported during an interview with Brandon Beane that Jordan Hancock underwent shoulder surgery and would be out for some time.
On Tuesday, we got confirmation that he had his right shoulder fixed as he had a brace on the shoulder and a red non-contact jersey. We don’t know the extent of the surgical procedure, but he is out there practicing and working his way back. I’ll assume that he had surgery immediately after the season, but we don’t have a clear timeline on his rehab.
This is the same shoulder he injured against the Chicago Bears in the preseason. This was originally thought to be a stinger and he had said as much, but either further injury that we did not see or were aware of led to this surgery.
RB Ty Johnson (Calf/Achilles)
Johnson was seen with black tape on his left calf indicating either soreness or a minor strain he is working through. He also has something on his right Achilles but this could be tape to avoid any blisters or rubbing from his shoes.
As guys are ramping back up into higher workloads, I expect to see more tape on various body parts to manage issues, but should they miss time during training camp, these are clues to determine how long an issue was lingering.
TE Dawson Knox (Left Knee)
Knox has a longer sleeve on his left leg sleeve to his right. I bring this up due to the fact that he has had tape or bracing on his left knee going back to last year at this time and possibly even longer.
It doesn’t appear to be limiting him but always something worth mentioning.
S Wande Owens (Left Leg)
Owens is back on the field with a knee brace on his left leg after missing the entire season prior due to knee surgery. He left the field with trainers in late August and was put on injured reserve prior to roster cut downs.
Considering the surgery picture he put on IG with the incision site, the time missed, and bracing, this strongly suggested that he tore his ACL. He still has a long road back to make the active roster but he’s out there.
OL Sedrick Van Pran-Granger (Right Leg)
SVPG is notable on this list due to the fact that he’s wearing a sleeve on his right leg. This was the same side he suffered his calf strain last offseason that cost him the entirety of the preseason on PUP.
It’s not clear what he is working through but there is roughly a 20 percent chance to reinjure his calf. Hopefully his calf isn’t bothering him again, but I’d rather have him miss time now rather than during training camp. This will be one to keep a closer eye on.
LB Greg Rousseau (Left Leg)
Rousseau was sporting a compression sleeve on his left leg during a blocking drill. He didn’t appear to be limited during practice that day which means this may be more precautionary. He also isn’t coming off any known injuries on the left side either.
DE Andre Jones Jr (Left Leg)
Jones Jr was also wearing a compression sleeve on his left leg and was not limited. I can’t find any recent injuries he could be working through which means this is something to acknowledge in the event he misses time.
C Lloyd Cushenberry (Shoulder)
Cushenberry has been seen in a red non-contact jersey during OTA’s this week as he’s been working out. Prior to signing with the Bills, he was cut from the Tennessee Titans due to a failed physical designation from shoulder surgery.
We never got any specifics as to the exact procedure he underwent, but this was back in January when he was released and it is now May. Considering he is practicing but not allowed contact suggests a labrum or rotator cuff repair. We don’t know which side as no pictures have shown a clearer picture of him, but I expect in the coming weeks we will get more information.
WR Tyrell Shavers (Left ACL Tear)
Shavers is continuing to work back from his ACL tear he suffered against the Jacksonville Jaguars during the playoffs. He was seen at OTA’s but outside of an occasional IG post, we haven’t seen him do much work publicly. He is expected to start the season on PUP and potentially make a late season return.
DE Landon Jackson (Right Knee MCL/PCL Sprain)
Jackson has continued to work back into shape following his Week 10 knee injury that saw him injure his MCL and PCL. He did not undergo surgery and has been rehabbing this entire offseason, adding 25 lbs, going from 260 to 285.
He has had ample time to recover and actually train which means we should see a healthy Landon Jackson heading into training camp.
DT DeWayne Carter (Left Achilles)
Carter has also beefed up to 330 lbs but hopes to play at 320 lbs after tearing his left Achilles in practice immediately after roster cut downs in August. He underwent surgery and missed the entire season.
By the time the season starts, he will be a full year removed from the injury and will look to return to his pre-injury form closer to the 2023 season at Duke or early 2024 before his wrist injury.
Final Thoughts
There are lots of injury updates, some more substantial than others. But every year, we see that those sleeves, braces, limitations during OTA’s are clues to either more notable injuries or the first clues to a lingering issue once training camp starts.
These articles are never meant to instill fear or panic, but rather create a discussion and timeline for injuries should they impact availability or performance later on. Injuries are a part of football and they require the appropriate context.
Make sure to check back on the latest injury information coming out of One Bills Drive as the offseason continues.
Top Photo Credit: AP Photo/Adrian Kraus
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