Buffalo Rumblings
The Buffalo Bills’ training room must have a revolving door. Once again, the second day of practice for the week saw some players improve on their roads to recovery while others moved in the opposite direction. The Bills will play the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, but there are still so many questions as to who, besides quarterback Josh Allen, will play.
Good news for the Bills is that running back James Cook III was upgraded to a limited participant during Thursday’s practice. Cook is dealing with an ankle injury he acquired in the Week 9 win over the Kansas City Chiefs.
Also improving on Thursday were linebacker Terrel Bernard, defensive end Joey Bosa, nickel cornerback Taron Johnson, and defensive tackle DaQuan Jones — all of whom were non participants on Wednesday but were able to practice in a limited fashion on Thursday. For Jones, it’s the first practice he’s been a part of since he injured his calf in Week 6 pregame warmups. Johnson missed Sunday’s game with the Chiefs, so getting back to work is a good sign he could play this weekend in Miami.
However, cornerback Christian Benford was downgraded on Thursday. Benford was listed on Wednesday as limited with a groin injury. Having not seen any indication on Sunday that he was injured, it seemed reasonable to think, like Johnson a week ago, he was injured in practice and had to leave early. That would seem to be the case as he was not practicing at all on day two.
With Benford out, it could be rookie Maxwell Hairston who gets the start – the first of his career. While that sounds great (after all, Hairston was the hero of Week 9 where he ran stride for stride with wide receiver Xavier Worthy all game an then intercepted quarterback Patrick Mahomes in the fourth quarter), that means he will be opposite Tre’Davious White instead of rotating with him. The only other boundary corner on the Bills’ active roster is Ja’Marcus Ingram, unless you count Brandon Codrington who has been a healthy scratch for the past several weeks. The Bills have Dane Jackson and Te’Cory Couch on the practice squad.
Still not practicing on Thursday was defensive end A.J. Epenesa who remains in the league’s concussion protocol. Epenesa has just one other concussion in his career. While the concussion didn’t cause Epenesa to miss a game back in 2020, if he’s not limited in Friday’s practice, it’s unlikely he will clear protocol by Sunday.
Linebacker Shaq Thompson still isn’t practicing either. Thompson started last week limited with a hamstring injury and was quickly downgraded to a DNP, where he has stayed, a day later. Like Benford and Johnson, it would seem that the injury occurred during practice.
Also holding steady, but in a better fashion, is wide receiver Joshua Palmer — who suffered knee and ankle injuries in Week 6. He began practicing midway through last week and is still working on a limited basis now. Could he...
