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Stevie Johnson hamstring strain could cost him most of preseason

Stevie Johnson strained a hamstring during the fifth Buffalo Bills training camp practice of 2013, and could reportedly miss most of the pre-season as a result.

Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports

Buffalo Bills wide receiver Stevie Johnson suffered a strained hamstring during training camp practice on Friday, according to reports from both Ian Rapoport of NFL.com and Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com. The news comes after an MRI on Johnson's left leg this afternoon.

Florio also writes that the "assumption" is that Johnson will miss most of the pre-season for the Bills, who open the regular season in just a little over five weeks. That's probably a safe assumption, given that the Bills will want to be extra cautious about making sure a tricky hamstring injury will be as healthy as possible for Week 1.

Bills head coach Doug Marrone did not sound overly concerned about Johnson potentially missing practice time this summer when he spoke with reporters after practice today.

"When you say how concerning, I would say it's a major concern when you talk about it during the season," Marrone said. "Right now, I think a veteran player that’s proved himself; we’ll just see what the doctors say. It is what it is and then we'll deal with it from there."

WGR 550's Joe Buscaglia reported that Brad Smith took Johnson's spot with the first-team offense after Johnson left on Friday. Players like Robert Woods, T.J. Graham, Marquise Goodwin and even Da'Rick Rogers could see an uptick in first-team reps with Johnson sidelined. Knowing how Stevie works, however - he's played in 48 straight games for this football team despite several nagging injuries over the last three years - it still seems more likely than not that he'll be ready to roll against New England.