Following the Bills win over the Carolina Panthers last Saturday, the Bills got back to work on Monday with a closed practice. The public did not receive any updates but had the open practice on August 18 where crowds gathered once again in Highmark Stadium to watch the Bills practice.
They were off Wednesday to travel to Cleveland for a joint practice Thursday before they took on the Browns in a preseason game on Saturday. Today’s article looks at the injuries from the past week along with injury updates.
New Injuries
S Jalen Kilgore (Right Leg)
Kilgore came out of the tunnel on 8/18 with a sleeve on his right leg and was unable to practice all week. It’s not clear when he suffered the injury, but it’s entirely possible this happened on Saturday during the preseason game or if the Bills practiced Monday.
He does have a history of hamstring and leg injury issues that have occurred towards the end of each season. The sleeve doesn’t tell us much other than the side but the Bills won’t be rushing him back to ensure the injury does not linger.
WR Dante Pettis (Undisclosed)
Pettis sat out of Thursday’s joint practice due to an undisclosed injury. There were no reports that he injured anything but there was a fan who was at Tuesday’s practice that stated he came up limping after a deep route and went to speak with the athletic trainers.
This sounds like a lower body issue but without additional information, it’s hard to determine which area is affected. Pettis has a lengthy injury history so anything that slows him down as he tries to make the team greatly hurts his chances.
DT Ed Oliver (Undisclosed)
Oliver began missing practice on August 18 during the stadium scrimmage followed by the joint practice. At the time, it was thought that he had a veteran rest day but Joe Brady confirmed that it was injury related.
He didn’t have any visible braces or sleeves on from what we could see on Tuesday. He was wearing a sleeve on his right leg during OTAs due to a possible knee scope as he hinted at a third surgery during interviews around that time.
We will get more information soon on the extent of the injury.
WR Khalil Shakir (Right Leg)
Shakir is in the same boat as Oliver, missing practice on August 18 and then missing the joint practice in Cleveland.
There isn’t anything notable about Shakir’s appearance on Tuesday either. He had been wearing a calf sleeve during practice on August 10 last week suggesting an injury there. He also had offseason right ankle surgery to fix likely chronic instability following several high-ankle sprains. He had been wearing a brace on his ankle during OTAs and participating fully.
Update: He was spotted wearing a sleeve on his right leg before Saturday’s game.
Injury Updates
WR Keon Coleman (Right Foot/Toe)
Coleman originally injured his right foot/toe area during a non-descript catch early in the second quarter of Saturday’s preseason game.
He was later spotted in a walking boot on Instagram and at the Erie County Fair. An official report from Cameron Wolfe came out stating that this was a foot/toe issue which means this could be a sprained foot or even turf toe.
We get a better look at the foot during joint practices but even this doesn’t tell us much.
The team should be in no rush to get Coleman back to practice until he is fully healthy.
Due to this being a longer post, this is what I said about a potential timeline return for Coleman.
Historically, the Bills have managed these injuries well during the regular season.
On average, players are missing less than .5 games with a foot/toe which means if a guy misses any time, he’s not out long.
Zack Moss is the only one that missed extended time due to a toe injury in 2020. Otherwise, they miss one game if they can’t go.
Looking specifically at WR with toe injuries, players spend 1.57 weeks on the injury report.
Foot injuries linger longer at 2.2 weeks for WR’s.
Joe Brady wasn’t concerned about the injury & there’s still plenty of time for Coleman to get healthy for the season.
Hopefully we see Keon return to practice by roster cut downs.
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S Cole Bishop (Lower Body)
Bishop returned to practice on August 18 and was able to fully participate during the Browns joint practice. During his rehab, he had been moving around well without any sleeves or braces on either area suggesting that he was working through a groin issue.
However, on Thursday, Bishop had a sleeve on his right leg which was notable because that suggests a hamstring, quad, or even calf issue. It’s possible this could be used for a groin as well but I don’t recall seeing this used as often for that. It’s also noteworthy to include that he had offseason surgery to clean it the joint on the left side and now the sleeve is on the right.
CB Maxwell Hairston (Groin)
Hairston returned to practice this week on August 18 after missing practice dating back to August 6 as he rehabbed from a groin injury.
S CJ Gardner-Johnson (Right Lower Leg)
CJGJ continues to work off to the side as he rehabs his right lower leg injury from August 10. The thought is that he aggravated his lower calf strain from August 1 but he has had a full sleeve on his right leg suggesting he may have injured another area as well.
It was rather shocking to see him miss only two practices the first time but the Bills have been smart to keep him out longer until he is fully healthy.
RB Ty Johnson (Right Hamstring)
August 18 was the first time we’ve seen Johnson since a brief sighting on August 10 in the fieldhouse. He continues to work back from his right hamstring strain suffered on August 8 during the Return of the Blue and Red scrimmage. He was out at practice with a sleeve on his right leg as his teammates warmed up.
His timeline is still very fluid for a return especially since this is the preseason. I had originally anticipated that he would miss two to three weeks with a more likely scenario of three. There is a possibility that he could go to injured reserve to start the season, but we should know more in the next week.
C Connor McGovern (Right Hamstring)
McGovern continues to rehab his right hamstring injury suffered on August 8 during the Return of the Blue and Red scrimmage trying to chase down an interception. He had stated on August 15 that this was a multi week injury but that he was planning to be back for Week 1.
Nothing I’ve seen suggests that he won’t meet that goal but he has been working diligently to ensure that he is ready to go.
WR DJ Moore (Right Ankle)
Moore put a scare into everyone on Saturday when he went down with a right ankle injury in the first quarter. His day was done but he was able to return to the open practice on August 18 without any initial limitations before he sat out team drills.
On Thursday during the joint practices, he returned to every drill and didn’t appear to have any tape on the ankle or appear limited.
WR Skyler Bell (Groin)
After missing practice dating back to August 10, Bell returned to the sidelines as he continued to work back from his lower body injury.
He does not have tape or sleeves on either leg, though he was wearing compression sleeves on both legs the week prior. He does have a history of hamstring injuries from 2021 at Wisconsin and in June during OTAs. He appears close to returning but head coach Joe Brady has noted that he would have played last Saturday had it been the regular season.
Update: Bell confirmed to The Athletic’s Joe Buscaglia that he is dealing with a groin injury originally sustained during the Return of the Blue and Red scrimmage on August 8.
DL Michael Hoecht (Right Achilles)
The Bills confirmed that Hoecht would be making his way back to the field as he continues to ramp up from his Achilles tear last year.
New Signings
DT Greg Gaines
The Bills signed Greg Gaines for extra help at defensive tackle and released DT Tommy Akingbesote.
Final Thoughts
Despite the injury report list growing, the team is still down by roughly 40 percent in injury volume compared to last season at this time. Last year was at an all-time high from my calculations, but even then, the Bills are still under the average preseason injuries of nearly 39 players.
There has only been one injury so far that has gone to injured reserve for the season and that has been LB Demetrius Flannagan-Fowles with an undisclosed issue. The rest of the injuries have been minor or more preventative.
The Bills take on the Browns on Saturday and hopefully there are no significant injuries coming out of that game. Continue to check back for the latest news and updates coming out of One Bills Drive.
Top Photo Credit: AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes
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