The Buffalo Bills are finally back! After a longer than normal summer break, the Bills reported to training camp on July 28 and stepped on the field the following day. As part of NFL rules, there was a ramp up this week to acclimate players to get back in the swing of things.
This is meant to avoid losing guys to injury immediately after a longer break despite many of them training on their own. We won’t see pads and live contact until next week, but we still got a ton of information this week as Joe Brady began leading the team.
Below are all the injuries coming off the first week of Bills training camp along with observations from beat reporters and photos from the team.
New Injuries
S CJ Gardner-Johnson (Right Lower Leg)
Gardner-Johnson put a scare into everyone on Saturday morning when he went down suddenly without contact, grabbing at his right lower leg, specifically his Achilles area. Team doctors initially palpated his ankle/Achilles before helping him walk off with assistance as he progressively placed more weight through his foot.
https://x.com/alexbrasky/status/2083551443873595541?s=46&t=5poCUU8phPWWPnweow3zZA
He required a cart to go to the locker room for further testing but was able to walk and appear to put weight through his right toes.
The initial concerns following the injury were that he injured his Achilles and the moments after appears to confirm the worst, but as word slowly spread that CJGJ was ok from Dion Dawkins and others along with more footage that he was increasing his ability to walk indicated that he suffered a calf strain rather than outright rupture of the Achilles.
To add extra hope, Tim Graham of The Athletic detailed out how CJGJ went down with his injury which doesn’t fit the mechanism for an Achilles. Typically we see a rock back motion where the player steps back and then tries to suddenly go forward or they step and cut, putting an eccentric lengthening force through the Achilles. CJGJ slowed down to a jog before he went down, this sounds more like a calf strain.
Additionally, Michael Hoecht, who is coming off his own Achilles tear, stated that CJGJ was trying to put weight through his leg which is something he wouldn’t be able to do with a full tear. To read Tim’s full article, click here.
This is looking more like a calf strain which based on severity could keep him out a while. We’ve seen guys come back in two weeks and other guys take six weeks. It just depends on severity. There’s certainly other possibilities including ankle concerns or if there was physical contact we aren’t aware of either.
As of publication, we don’t have any definitive updates but I will be sure to have this article and my X feed updated as information comes out.
Update: CJGJ has a lower calf strain and there is no timeline yet for a return.
We’re probably looking at 2-3 weeks, probably closer to 3 weeks before we see him return but as this is the preseason, we won’t see a quick return.
If this was the regular season, my injury database powered by Spartera showed that a Bills player would miss .81 games and be on the injury report for 1.67 weeks.
If you want to run your own stats or dig into other teams, make sure to check out my marketplace here.
C Connor McGovern (Right Hand)
McGovern required some brief attention from doctors and athletic trainers at the end of Thursday’s practice looking at his right snapping hand according to Joe Buscaglia of The Athletic. He didn’t require a lot of time from them but he was spotted with something on his index finger during an interview with Built in Buffalo.
He was able to practice on Saturday without any fanfare which suggests that this isn’t an issue moving forward. This is also the same guy who played through a broken knuckle on his snapping hand last year which means this shouldn’t be an issue moving forward.
Injury Updates
LB Joe Andreessen (Right Quad)
Buffalo Joe showed up to camp on July 29 with a compression sleeve on his right leg coming out of the tunnel.
This comes after he suffered a right quad strain sometime in mid-May as evident by the picture from OTA’s. He is at least two months removed from the injury and was able to practice fully during minicamp. This sleeve appears to be more precautionary but something to keep an eye on in the event that he misses future time.
LB Dorian Williams (Knee Fracture)
Williams had a surprise admission to beat reporters following the first practice on Wednesday. He stated that he suffered a knee fracture which led to him being on crutches back in OTAs.
He told Carl Jones that he had bilateral fractures which led to the question whether these were fractures in both knees or multiple fractures in one knee.
I reached out to Carl for specifics and he did follow up with Dorian the following day. He states that the fractures were in the knee/leg area. He went on further to state that they did see Dorian with a big brace on during minicamp, something that wasn’t previously reported. Furthermore, this confirms that this was isolated to one leg versus both knees.
As to the type of fractures, it sounds like these are compression fractures, an idea suggested by former Bills OL Jerry Ostroski on Bills Squad. These are basically non-displaced fractures or fractures that haven’t shifted or are loose. Non-displaced fractures don’t always require surgery or casting depending on the specific area. This may have been basically a bad bone bruise that was significant enough to be classified as a fracture. How this happened, it could have been a knee hyperextension or direct blow to the knee, something along those lines.
The area still needs to be protected but oftentimes, the person is weight bearing as tolerated and limited in their activity level versus outright restricted.
Williams doesn’t have any bracing on either leg for camp which makes it difficult to determine which leg he was dealing with. The timeline for this injury appeared to begin sometime after mid-May based on his participation in Phase 2 of OTA’s. Knowing that minicamp was in early June and he was on crutches still narrows it down to a three week window.
There isn’t any specific timeframe for using the crutches, it’s more for pain and comfort but he was seen during minicamp and Taste of Country on June 27 without crutches.
It wasn’t clear if he would be ready for training camp back in June, but he passed his physical and was slowly brought along in camp this week. He did individual drills but didn’t participate in 11-on-11 drills until August 1st.
DL Michael Hoecht (Right Achilles)
As Brandon Beane told us in June, Hoecht would avoid PUP and be ready to go for training camp coming off his right Achilles tear. Hoecht also told us that he planned to be ready by July 1 which fits his own goal as well. Training camp will help Hoecht actually train and get his body ready for football rather than the rehab that he’s been doing since mid-November following surgery.
Even if he is fully ready Week 1, we won’t see pre-injury Hoecht. If he can work in for certain packages or situations, then he can ramp up to hopefully return to prior form by later in the season. Hoecht is a reminder that since he passed his physical and began practicing, they cannot put him back on PUP, but if he were to suffer another injury, they would have to put him on injured reserve at roster cut downs to allow him to play this season; that would go for anyone else on the roster as well.
LB Terrel Bernard (Right Ankle)
Bernard was limited during the first few days of training camp as he continues to work back from his right ankle reconstruction from this offseason.
These recoveries can take upwards of 6+ months and while he was able to pass his physical and participate all offseason, the team is likely holding him back to avoid getting him ramped up too quickly.
I would rather the team hold him back a little longer to make sure he is 100 percent and to give reps to some younger guys. There isn’t any concern right now with Bernard, he just has to be given the opportunity to get fully healthy before trying to play when he’s not ready.
On Saturday, he participated in 11-on-11 drills after being limited the previous two practices. He looked to be moving well
WR Jalen Virgil (Undisclosed)
Virgil did not pass his physical after suffering a non-football injury sometime prior to camp. He was present for the first two days of camp off to the side before he was released to sign WR Dante Pettis.
K Tyler Bass (Core Muscle Repair)
Bass opened up for the first time extensively since he underwent surgery for his core muscle injury, otherwise known as a sports hernia.
We have not seen him kick as of Saturday, but he stated that it took him until OTAs to feel normal again. Katherine Fitzgerald of The Buffalo News further clarified that this was a sports hernia after Brandon Beane said the same thing back in February.
PUP
WR Tyrell Shavers (Left ACL)
Shavers was the only player on the 91-man roster who wasn’t able to participate in training camp as he continues to rehab from his ACL tear from the Wild Card win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. He will begin the season on the regular season PUP which means he will miss at least the first four games. However, I don’t expect him to return until late November or December. While he is valuable as a special teams contributor, I don’t believe the Bills are cutting anyone immediately to place him back on the roster which means he may have a longer run way to return as other roster transactions occur.
He was seen on the sidelines at training camp as he rehabs but he won’t be cleared anytime soon.
New Signings
Final Thoughts
This was shaping up to be a quiet week before the news that came out with CJ Gardner-Johnson on Saturday morning. We know injuries will happen, it just comes down to if anything is preventable. These teams invest too much into these players to not have a system in place to identify variables they can control and prepare players to reduce their injury risk.
Despite what many people on X say, the Buffalo Bills doctors, athletic trainers, and physical therapists are incredibly competent people. These injuries require a lot of care and aren’t always cut and dry. They also have more resources available than the general population.
Let’s continue to hope that these significant injuries stay at a minimum and starters continue to stay healthy.
Top Photo Credit: CJ Gardner-Johnson/IG
Discover more from Banged Up Bills
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
