Matt Milano out for the foreseeable future — now what? (2024)

PITTSBURGH — The Bills thought they were going through a normal practice routine on Tuesday in Orchard Park. Positional drills take up much of the first hour in an ordinary Bills session and are usually used to fine-tune some fundamentals at each position.

When star linebacker Matt Milano went through a wrap-up drill of a tackling bag, moved slightly to the side by a member of the team’s staff as part of the drill, he arose from the rep in pain. The team said that during the rep, Milano hurt his arm, possibly on the leg of the staff member. The athletic training staff checked on the 30-year-old Milano and promptly shut him down in practice for the rest of the day.

The team never took him off the field to bring him to the locker room. He remained in full pads while watching from the sideline. Most of the time, it’s usually a good sign if a player does not exit practice to the locker room. But Milano wound up being the exception to that general rule.

Just two days later, the Bills got the call they were most afraid of with one of the keys to their defense. Milano tore his biceps on that normally innocuous drill. The injury will require surgery, and he will be out indefinitely. It was a crushing blow to someone on the shortlist of players they could least afford to lose this season on a defense that already had questions piling up.

The usual timeframe for such an injury would keep him out until December. However, two injuries could have the same title but need a different amount of time to return to action. Internally, the Bills are likely hoping for the best rather than circling December as the time they know Milano will be back. The Bills will know more after surgery and once the linebacker begins to rehab.

The news of Milano’s prognosis came out within an hour of the Bills’ joint practice with the Steelers at Acrisure Stadium.

“It’s an unfortunate situation,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said just minutes after the news broke. “Matt’s a strong young man. I know he’s gonna handle this. Certainly tough coming off the year he came off already.”

This fate is the opposite of how the Bills had hoped things would go when they extended Milano during the 2023 offseason, letting starting middle linebacker Tremaine Edmunds leave via free agency the same offseason. Milano suffered a season-ending leg injury in Week 5 last year and now has to battle back from another long-term injury just to play in 2024. The two-year extension on Milano’s existing contract has him signed through 2026, his age-32 season.

“We’ve got to be resilient,” McDermott said. “We’ve got to move forward and focus on solutions.”

All that is known for now is that Milano won’t be in the Bills’ lineup for some time. The bigger question is, what happens to the starting position without him there, with just over three weeks until the season opener to figure it out?

“It’s an opportunity,” nickel cornerback Taron Johnson said. “There’s stars that are made out of opportunities like this.”

For much of camp, Milano’s direct backup at the outside linebacker spot has been Dorian Williams, a third-round pick from the 2023 draft, and he’s likely to get the first crack at the full-time job.

The Bills invested Day 2 picks in back-to-back drafts in 2022 and 2023 to help what used to be a weaker linebacker depth chart past the starters. The Milano injury undoubtedly accelerates Williams’ timeline to see if they have someone who can be the starting solution McDermott referred to.

“I feel ready,” Williams said after practice. “That’s what we’re out here to do, to be the next man up.”

While Williams will likely get the first opportunity, he must improve in one distinct area of his game — taking the bait in coverage reps, specifically on play-action passes. There is a bit of volatility to his game — with high highs and low lows. Helping his case, Williams brings a lot of speed to the game, which allows him to make some flash plays, most often against the run.

However, the transition from his defensive scheme at Tulane, which is simplistic compared to his defensive playbook in Buffalo, can be overwhelming. Part of why the Bills invest so much more in the linebacker position through cap dollars and draft picks compared to other NFL teams is because of how much they put on the plate of the position.

That can cause some early struggles, even for players who eventually have good careers in their defense. The trio of Milano, Edmunds and Terrel Bernard all had to endure growing pains in their early years. How the linebacker responds to adversity will ultimately decide if Williams can hold onto the job.

But it will also come to a point where the Bills are trying to win games this season. If Williams continues to repeat similar mistakes to the point of becoming a liability, they may have to look elsewhere. And the team has a few other options they can consider.

It would be unwise to rule out Baylon Spector from the competition. The third-year linebacker has had an impressive training camp and preseason, primarily working as the team’s backup middle linebacker. But this is a similar avenue to one the Bills have gone down before, as recently as 2023.

When the team lost Milano last season, they initially gave Williams a chance at the job and ultimately turned to Tyrel Dodson. Like Spector this year, Dodson had been practicing the entire 2023 preseason at middle linebacker. But they made it work with the pair of Bernard and Dodson.

Spector does have a calf injury that popped up Thursday and kept him out of the joint practice with the Steelers. The severity of the injury is unknown, and Spector was on the field viewing from the sidelines with a sleeve on his right calf. Though if last year taught us anything, with Bernard winning the middle linebacker job despite being out with a hamstring injury during the preseason, the Bills aren’t afraid to give the job to someone who hasn’t practiced in a while if they know the scheme.

Another option for the job could be veteran linebacker Nicholas Morrow, who, when he signed with the Bills, was thought to be the go-to veteran backup in the room. Morrow could play at either position if necessary. However, like Spector, Morrow is injured. Morrow hasn’t practiced since Aug. 4 due to a core/groin injury, which certainly hurts his chances of factoring into the starting job and may even put him on the roster bubble.

The Milano news may change Morrow’s spot on the bubble, now with an extra roster spot available. But there was a slight sign of improvement Thursday, with Morrow being one of three players going through some strenuous workouts on the sidelines with the strength and conditioning staff. When players begin to participate in those drills, it’s usually a sign of being close to a return. He could factor into the starting job if he gets back to practice quickly enough.

The other option for the Bills is to bring back their strategy from last season to accentuate Williams’ strengths as a starter, considering Dodson had some of the same difficulties in coverage. The Bills devised the idea to go to dime on obvious passing downs, bringing in a third safety and dropping down Jordan Poyer to be a de facto linebacker. The only problem with that idea is that the safety position might be the weakest on the roster and dealing with two critical injuries of its own. The team might not have that same flexibility to play dime this season.

And if all else fails, the Bills can always try to address the starting job with a free agent or via trade. McDermott has long been a proponent of finding the answer internally, so going that route would likely be a worst-case scenario for them.

No matter what, the drop-off from Milano to whoever joins the starting lineup is precipitous. It calls into question what the ceiling for the defense is in 2024 without him in the lineup for what will likely be a majority of regular season games. The Bills made it work last year without Milano, and they will need to do it again in 2024, perhaps with a less talented supporting cast around the position.

Quick hits from the Bills-Steelers joint practice:

• Cornerback Kaiir Elam twice removed his pads on the sidelines, likely to cool down on a very hot day. The second time, Elam calmly sat on the bench and got some oxygen from a tank before rejoining his teammates to watch practice from the sideline.

• Safety Damar Hamlin dealt with an injury he considered “minor,” but the team held him out the rest of practice to err on the side of caution.

• Joining Morrow during the more strenuous workout with the strength and conditioning staff were rookie safety Cole Bishop (shoulder) and defensive end Casey Toohill (groin). This is yet another positive development for Bishop, who seemed to take a minor step forward during his in-practice work in Orchard Park on Tuesday. Bishop had tape under his shirt on his left shoulder area.

• Running back Ty Johnson worked in for some first-team offense reps after James Cook took his reps with the ones, which is notable considering Johnson just returned from a hamstring injury. The team subbing out Cook after a few team drills reps is a common practice during their camp sessions, but it was interesting that Johnson went on the field for some time before rookie Ray Davis. The battle for second running back remains between those two.

• A battle appears to be brewing with the backup offensive line. Veteran La’El Collins did some subbing in and out midway through the second-team reps as the Bills kept doing some new looks. Interestingly, second-year tackle Richard Gouraige split time between tackle and guard, and even worked in at guard with the second unit. That’s the type of role they likely envisioned for Collins, who has struggled this summer. If Gouraige shows well in those roles, he’s a sneaky name to remember with who could make it through final cuts. Rookie Sedrick Van Pran-Granger also worked in with the second unit at center. Meanwhile, Alec Anderson had back-to-back fumbled exchanges with quarterback Mitchell Trubisky while at center in team drills. Will Clapp also had some second-team time at guard.

(Top photo of Matt Milano: Shawn Dowd / USA Today)

Joe Buscaglia is a staff writer for The Athletic, covering the Buffalo Bills. Joe has covered the team since 2010. He spent his first five years on the beat at WGR Sports Radio 550 and the next four years at WKBW-TV in Buffalo. A native of Hamburg, N.Y., Buscaglia is a graduate of Buffalo State College. Follow Joe on Twitter @JoeBuscaglia