The 2026 Buffalo Bills preseason has officially finished after roster cutdown day on August 30. The Bills have made their initial 53-man roster, and other roster transactions have been completed to fill out the practice squad and injured reserve.
For the third year in a row, I completed the preseason injury tracker to better understand the volume of injuries the Buffalo Bills incur during July and August. Over the last two years, older players filled out the roster, and injuries increased dramatically along with the need to use the depth to get through practices. While the Bills still had a stellar record and made another appearance in the divisional round, injuries finally caught up to them at the worst possible time.
Ideally, the 91-man roster the Bills bring to training camp is reduced to 53, add 17 to the practice squad, and you have a group of players that can perform well with each other.
Read below for an in-depth analysis of the 2026 Bills preseason, including how they break down by injury type and against previous seasons.
Parameters
– All data was taken from media reports during the preseason from 2018-2026. This timeframe is done for two reasons. 2018 is when Nate Breske was hired as the head Athletic Trainer, and 2018 dates back to when Banged Up Bills had consistently tracked preseason injuries.
– Each player was considered one instance in the data sets, even if they had multiple injuries during the preseason. The objective was to determine how many players were affected by injury, not necessarily how many injuries total. Several instances saw a player originally injured in practice aggravate the injury in a game.
– Every player reported was included, whether they were out for a vet rest, general soreness, or an actual injury. Timelines for missed time are not considered because injury settlements or injured reserve stops that timeline. In different cases, the timing of injury prevents an accurate assessment of how long an injury takes to recover from in the preseason.
– The objective is to determine if the number of players injured during the preseason increased compared to prior seasons and also look at certain injury metrics, including soft tissue/type, concussions, whether the injury occurred in practice or preseason game, and if the player was new to the team that season.
To read last year’s article, click below.
Past Preseason Yearly Injuries
2018
25 players
6 soft tissue (24%)
2 hamstrings
0 calf
4 groin
19 sprains/other (76%)
0 concussions
14 game injuries (56%)
14 new players (56%)
2019
35 players
12 soft tissue (35%)
3 hamstring
0 calf
4 groin
22 sprains/other (64%)
3 concussion
9 game injuries (26%)
15 new players (41%)
2020
25 {27}players
4 soft tissue (16%)
2 hamstring
0 calf
0 groin
21 sprains/other (84%)
1 concussion
0 game injuries (no games)
9 new players (36%)
{Illness}
2021
36 {43} players
5 soft-tissue (14%)
2 hamstring
3 calf
0 groin
25 sprains/other (69%)
2 concussion
14 game injuries (39%)
6 COVID
9 (13) new players (25%)
{Illness/COVID}
2022
33 players
5 soft tissue (15%)
3 hamstring
2 calf
0 groin
28 sprains/other (85%)
1 concussion
11 game injuries (33%)
12 new players (36%)
2023
34 players
12 soft tissue (35%)
6 hamstring
3 calf
5 groin
22 sprains/other (65%)
2 concussions
7 game injuries (21%)
11 new players (32%)
2024
47 players
16 soft tissue (34%)
6 hamstring
4 calf
4 groin
31 sprains/other (66%)
2 concussions
9 game injuries (19%)
23 new players (49%)
2025
67 players
19 soft tissue (28%)
9 hamstrings
7 calf
2 groin
39 sprains/other (58%)
2 concussions
7 undisclosed (11%)
10 game injuries (15%)
21 new players (32%)
2026
36 players
5 soft tissue (13.8%)
2 hamstring
2 groin
1 calf
15 sprain/other (41.6%)
16 undisclosed (44.4%)
31 Sprains/Other/Undisclosed (86%)
0 concussions
7 game injuries (19.4%)
14 new players (38.8%)
2018-2026 Averages
37.57 players
9.33 soft tissue
3.88 hamstring
2.22 calf
2.42 groin
26.44 sprain/other
1.22 concussions
10.12 game injuries (8 seasons)
14.22 new players
Takeaways
– The 2026 preseason saw a 47 percent decrease in reported player missing time due to injuries compared to 2025. They were about as average as you could be.
– After two of the highest years of reported injuries, the Bills finally reduced their injury count in 2026. There were discussions about how Sean McDermott didn’t mesh well with the advice of the sports science department last year, but also having a younger roster and changes to the practice schedule also likely contributed to this improvement. Quite frankly, the law of averages may have worked in the Bills’ favor as well.
– The Bills had a total of 97 players pass through training camp whether it be due to a player upgrade or injury. This is a notable decrease from 110 players last year. With 36 players total affected by injury/vet rest, this equated to 37 percent of players who suited up for the Buffalo Bills this preseason missing time, requiring attention from the medical staff, or suffering an injury that limited them in some way.
– The decreased volume of players getting injured was significant this year, with 31 fewer players than last year when comparing apples to apples. While vet rests are not technically injuries, they are designed so that players don’t overwork and suffer injury. We only saw one player need a vet rest in Dion Dawkins this year.
– 19 offensive players, 16 defensive players, and 1 special teams are how the different units broke down injury-wise.
– Known soft tissue injuries were down, equal, or within reason across the board and closer in line with historical averages, with 2 hamstrings (average: 3.88), 2 groins (average: 2.42), and 1 calf (average: 2.22). Vague reporting like lower body likely skews these numbers, but that’s the reality we’re dealing with as Joe Brady is the head coach.
– There was not a reported concussion in the preseason for the first time since 2018.
– Once again, most of the injuries reported in the 2026 preseason were due to practice, with 86 percent of injuries occurring then.
– 44 percent of the players in 2026 had undisclosed injuries, which skews the true reporting of the numbers. This really affected the true values, but that was the team’s prerogative to keep things close to their chest.
– The number of new players injured stayed in line with historical averages at 14 players.
– Finally, the Bills only had to place one player on the injured reserve in LB Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles with an undisclosed injury during the preseason. They did have to place DT Zane Durant on injured reserve designated to return but this was an injury already accounted for in the data.
Study Limitations
-The Bills do generally provide a specific designation as to why a player is out for that practice or game. There are times when it is described as general soreness or undisclosed, with no additional information. The lack of specificity affects accuracy when looking at injury rates, especially in 2026.
-Some injuries are not publicly released, or players do not miss time, which affects the true number of each injury. We did see Joe Brady get incredibly cagey with injuries reporting lower body or nothing at all if he was able to during the preseason.
-Accuracy of reporting may have affected numbers if a player was inadvertently missed during research or not included in weekly articles.
Final Thoughts
There were a lot fewer injuries than last year. That made for a quieter preseason for a healthier Bills team and me overall. I know these numbers may be drastically different due to the lower body and undisclosed designations we received this year, but this is what we have to go off of until we either get more information. I did see the discussions about plenty of key starters such as Connor McGovern, Keon Coleman, Khalil Shakir, Ed Oliver, and more miss time, but they’re the starters, they need the reps. They can’t just sit all preseason and then expect to be full go Week 1. Injuries are part of the sport, it’s how they’re managed that makes the difference.
It would be great to see what injuries look like around the league, but there is no formal tracking in the preseason, and I am only one person to keep track of everything. Whether you believe this is incomplete due to the inability to compare against teams or not, a 47 percent reduction in players injured in training camp is notable from one year to the other whether there is luck or a concerted effort.
Despite injuries to CJ Gardner-Johnson, Connor McGovern, Ty Johnson, Keon Coleman, and others, all could realistically return close to full health before Week 1. Injuries will continue to occur, and the Bills will lose players this season; that’s just the sad reality. But bringing most of their roster to Week 1 should help with continuity, and should starters go down, the depth can step in until the starters can return rather than putting players in who showed up just last week.
Top Photo Credit: Adrian Kraus/AP
Discover more from Banged Up Bills
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
