The Buffalo Bills are off today - their first full day of rest after eight days and 13 straight padded practices at training camp. With 14 of their 80 players currently nursing some form of injury, perhaps it's best that the team get 24 hours to heal up a little bit.
Most of the injuries, it seems, are minor. Only one, the thumb injury to rookie offensive tackle Ed Wang, required surgery. Another rookie, outside linebacker Danny Batten, is nursing a shoulder injury that has kept his arm in a sling for the better part of a week. One more rookie, wide receiver Marcus Easley, has missed several consecutive practices with a bad knee. These appear to be the most serious of Buffalo's lengthy injury list.
Several more players, including Paul Posluszny, Keith Ellison, Chad Simpson and John Destin, have begun doing individual drills and appear on the cusp of returning to the practice field. Similarly, injuries to Cornell Green and Roscoe Parrish appear to be of the short-term variety. Two players returning from injury, linemen Demetrius Bell and Eric Wood, are not technically injured, but they're still not permitted to practice fully every day.
The prognosis is not known for three more injuries, to Spencer Johnson, Derek Schouman and David Nelson. Bills head coach Chan Gailey indicated that Nelson would be out for "a while," but Nelson told Buffalo Rumblings' MattRichWarren that he'd be back Monday.
The Bills did get two players back into the lineup late this week, with both Chris Kelsay and Kyle Williams returning from injury.