Injuries beginning to pile up for Bills as Week 1 nears

BUFFALO, N.Y. — As the 2024 NFL season gets closer, the injuries for the Buffalo Bills continue to pile up.

Backup quarterback Mitch Trubisky (knee), wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling (neck) and tight end Quintin Morris (shoulder), who is undergoing further evaluation, will all be out multiple weeks, coach Sean McDermott said Monday. Wide receiver Curtis Samuel (turf toe), safety Damar Hamlin (hamstring) and linebacker Baylon Spector (calf) are all week-to-week.

The injuries — some suffered during the team’s second preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday night, some before — are the latest in what has been a tough spring and summer for the Bills.

A number of players are missing significant time because of injuries, and starting linebacker Matt Milano tore a biceps in practice last week. Many of the injured players are new additions to the team this offseason. The Bills have a busy start to the season, traveling to the Miami Dolphins in Week 2 to play on “Thursday Night Football.”

At quarterback specifically, the Bills signed Ben DiNucci last week to be the third quarterback following  Shane Buechele’s neck injury in the first preseason game. DiNucci played over a half against the Steelers. In the wake of Trubisky’s injury, the team also signed quarterback Anthony Brown, a source told ESPN, confirming a report by NFL Network. The former Oregon quarterback appeared in two regular-season games with the Baltimore Ravens in 2022 and was most recently with the Las Vegas Raiders. DiNucci and Brown join Josh Allen as the healthy quarterbacks on the roster.

“[Conversations about what to do at quarterback] haven’t concluded though, really, so we’re working on it,” McDermott said. “I know [general manager Brandon Beane is] working on it with his staff. It is something we need to keep our eye on for sure. And we’ll continue to do that.”

Rookie defensive end Javon Solomon (calf) and defensive tackle Austin Johnson (calf) will be limited this week, while defensive end Casey Toohill (groin) could return later in the week.

There is some positive injury news, as safeties Mike Edwards (hamstring) and Cole Bishop (shoulder) and linebacker Nicholas Morrow (core/groin) will participate in walk-throughs and some individual drills this week. Edwards and Bishop have missed almost all of training camp and the preseason with injuries. Safety and linebacker have been the two positions hit the most with injuries. The team is currently set to have two new starting safeties after seven seasons of Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer.

“The biggest challenge is having a player hurt is one thing, but having a new player hurt who doesn’t know what we’re doing systematically is another challenge,” McDermott said. “So, we’re trying to capture every rep we can, just using them in walk-through this week, because we’re getting closer and closer to the season here.”

McDermott said that some players who are week-to-week are more of a concern than others who are to be ready for Week 1, both from a health perspective and in terms of getting the needed practice reps, but declined to say which players there is more concern about.

Because of the injuries, the Bills’ starters will not play in the third preseason game against the Carolina Panthers on Saturday, although McDermott said it was never the plan for Allen to play in the game.

“You got the safety position where you’re hoping that they’re back, but do they know enough to go out there and execute,” McDermott said. “And then you’ve got a position like Mitch [Trubisky], where typically you only carry one [backup] on the active [roster], in addition to Josh, your starter. And so, is it going to marry up to Mitch being ready to go in time? I don’t know that for sure.

“So, we just got to, like all these things stay on them and communicate one day at a time here and get continual updates from [head athletic trainer Nate Breske], our training staff. It affects a lot of things. It affects practice, it affects the game this weekend, and it’ll potentially affect the start of the season for a lot of those positions.”