Buffalo Bills S Jordan Poyer wearing precautionary arm brace

If you’ve attended Buffalo Bills training camp at St. John Fisher University this summer, it’s possible you’ve notice the arm brace that safety Jordan Poyer has been wearing. No, Poyer isn’t recovering from a new, different injury to his left arm. Poyer’s simply exercising due diligence to provide precautionary support to his elbow.

Last season, Poyer endured a litany of injuries — with a hyperextended elbow the first blow to his year, occurring during last summer’s training camp. Poyer himself has said that the 2022 NFL season was his most difficult yet, enduring so much injury and trauma both on the field and off it. But Poyer is a warrior, and he played most weeks of the season with injuries that would have sidelined others.

The sleeve Poyer’s now wearing and the idea around it isn’t anything new league-wide, as most people realize. It’s just that such apparatus sticks out when a person isn’t used to seeing it as part of a player’s on-field gear.

After attending Sunday’s session, Buffalo Rumblings pod/vidcaster and writer Sara Larson connected with Jeramiah Poyer (Jordan’s brother) of “The Chop Up” to ask about the current brace. It seemed to her more bulky than any brace Poyer had previously worn, even considering last season. Jeramiah had the following to share about his All-Pro NFL brother:

“It’s just precautionary. He’s been wearing it. It’s different from last year’s brace; this one is just a cushion. Last year it was a real brace to keep his arm from bending back.”

In other words: There’s nothing of new concern with Poyer’s arm and/or elbow. If you’ve ever hyperextended that area of your arm, you’d probably do everything you could to ensure it remains comfortable and properly positioned — especially as a starting NFL strong safety about to embark on your 12th professional season.

Again, for Jordan Poyer it’s about taking steps to mitigate a new injury to the same area, and mostly to provide comfort during play/contact.

You may recall other NFL superstars such as tight end Rob Gronkowski and defensive end J.J. Watt wearing similar (though far more hardware-heavy) braces during their careers. Similarly, it’s likely you can recount more than a handful of famous quarterbacks or linemen on each side of the ball who used knee supports following injury — or even just as an extra bit of “insurance” against initial injury.

It would seem that, like many other gridiron greats, Jordan Poyer’s simply trying to make sure he does all he can to remain available as one half of the league’s finest starting safety tandem.