Buffalo Bills wide receiver and special teams ace Marcus Easley will be placed on Injured Reserve, according to head coach Rex Ryan, after dislocating his kneecap and breaking his left knee in three places during yesterday's win over the Dallas Cowboys.
Rex on Easley: This is a major, major injury. ... He dislocated his knee cap but also broke his knee in three spots.
— Tyler Dunne (@TyDunne) December 28, 2015
Ryan also told reporters that, despite the severity of the injury, Easley is expected to recover in full prior to the start of the 2016 season.
Easley was covering a punt in the second quarter against Dallas when he fell to the ground without having been contacted. After the play was blown dead, Bills trainers attended to Easley on the field, eventually putting his left leg in an air cast and carting him off the field. Easley was visibly shaken up in the moment, which made it plain that he had just suffered what Ryan has now termed a "major, major" injury.
Buffalo signed Easley to a four-year, $7 million contract this past offseason. He will be back in 2016 as a core member of a special teams unit that could see a significant facelift this spring.