How will current injuries impact the coming season?

[Jerome007]

Weird to talk injuries 2 days after the Super bowl, but with what happened to Hoecht, Shavers, Davis, Strong and a few others, when can they be expected to come back? Some might miss a good chunk of next season...

[Rubes]

I actually think this is a good topic...and the question is also, how long will it take some of them to get back to form? Hoecht and Shavers are both good players when healthy, but they are both coming back from injuries that can take a couple of years to come back from. They may get back on the field next year, but what's the best we cacn expect?

 

I was really looking forward to what Hoecht would bring to the defense, but I'm not sure we'll see that next year, even if he's on the field.

 

[Don Otreply]

Those guys you mention like Shavers and Hoecht etc, will heal up, but won’t be their former selves until late next season and very possibly the following season, remember, there is a big difference between healed from an injury, and being in able to perform at pre injury levels, lots of folk seem to not wrap their heads around this actuality. 

Edited February 10 by Don Otreply

[SCBills]

Honestly think you have to operate this off-season like none of them are available in 2026. 
 

Shavers is a nice story, but he’s a WR4 at best.  Davis probably won’t play next year.  
 

Hoecht and Strong, if available, are nice pieces to have but Strong may/may not ever play again.. not sure if we’ll know before the Draft?  Hoecht coming off an Achilles could be a freak and look great, ready to go Week 1 or could start the year on PUP, we don’t see him until Week 8 or so and he’s not the same guy all year. 
 

Cant really see any of those guys factoring into offseason decisions too heavily.   Hoecht and Strong being guys where it’s a pleasant suprise if they’re available and look good to go at some point in 2026. 

[The Jokeman]

I think Strong's injury is going to lead us to draft a CB whereas if he was healthy we might have just gotten someone as an UDFA to add to the mix.

 

Davis/Shavers might cause us to draft a 2nd WR later in the draft to add to the mix as WR5 or maybe sign a veteran free agent that can contribute as a ST gunner and a WR on the field. 

 

Hoecht's I don't think impacts anything and expect him to be back on the field in September 2026. The other injuries like Landon Jackson and Dewayne Carter might make us to look at bringing in a few more lower cost veterans to compete for backup spots and/or better suited for 34 base defense.

Edited February 10 by The Jokeman

[OldTimer1960]

7 minutes ago, The Jokeman said:

I think Strong's injury is going to lead us to draft a CB whereas if he was healthy we might have just gotten someone as an UDFA to add to the mix.

 

Davis/Shavers might cause us to draft a 2nd WR later in the draft to add to the mix as WR5 or maybe sign a veteran free agent that can contribute as a ST gunner and a WR on the field. 

 

Hoecht's I don't think impacts anything and expect him to be back on the field in September 2026. The other injuries like Landon Jackson and Dewayne Carter might make us to look at bringing in a few more lower cost veterans to compete for backup spots and/or better suited for 34 base defense.

Boy, I think Hoecht will be lucky to play much at all next year after a torn Achilles.

[Jerome007]

2 minutes ago, OldTimer1960 said:

Boy, I think Hoecht will be lucky to play much at all next year after a torn Achilles.

It happened in week 6. So, hard to know when he'll come back. He was a force for those 6 quarters he played. That D could have got the Bills to the Superbowl... Hopefully he is full strenght by  mid -season

[Big Turk]

28 minutes ago, SCBills said:

Honestly think you have to operate this off-season like none of them are available in 2026. 
 

Shavers is a nice story, but he’s a WR4 at best.  Davis probably won’t play next year.  
 

Hoecht and Strong, if available, are nice pieces to have but Strong may/may not ever play again.. not sure if we’ll know before the Draft?  Hoecht coming off an Achilles could be a freak and look great, ready to go Week 1 or could start the year on PUP, we don’t see him until Week 8 or so and he’s not the same guy all year. 
 

Cant really see any of those guys factoring into offseason decisions too heavily.   Hoecht and Strong being guys where it’s a pleasant suprise if they’re available and look good to go at some point in 2026. 

 

I don't think you can just look at a player and say he is a "WR4 at best" and decide he isn't that important. You have to look at how he is used and how many aspects of the game he was effecting. He was extremely important in the run game, they often would move him inside and have him blocking DE's and LB's in tight formations because of his size and he did it very well. He was also a core ST player that did a lot there. And he was open quite a bit. 

 

This is not your "normal" WR4, he was a increasingly a key player for the way the BILLS OPERATE THEIR OFFENSE, especially by the end of the year. It doesn't matter how he would have been used on other teams, if he would have been relegated to ST duty only or not even make the roster. For the BILLS, and BILLS ALONE, he was a very important player.

 

From the TB game on, he was second only behind Shakir in snap count percentage for WR's on offense, and  he wasn't that far behind.  You want to know how important the Bills felt he was? He played a total of 4 snaps in the Jets season finale game.

Edited February 10 by Big Turk

[JohnNord]

1 hour ago, Jerome007 said:

Weird to talk injuries 2 days after the Super bowl, but with what happened to Hoecht, Shavers, Davis, Strong and a few others, when can they be expected to come back? Some might miss a good chunk of next season...

I’d expect all to be on the PUP list when the season starts.  We’re talking Achillies for Hoecht, ACL late in the year for Gabe/Shavers and whatever neck surgery Strong. 

[OldTimer1960]

10 minutes ago, Jerome007 said:

It happened in week 6. So, hard to know when he'll come back. He was a force for those 6 quarters he played. That D could have got the Bills to the Superbowl... Hopefully he is full strenght by  mid -season

Even if he plays, it’s pretty likely that he won’t be the same player he was pre-injury.

 

https://sicscore.com/news/achilles-tears-in-the-nfl-injury-causes-recovery-timeline-and-performance-impact

[JohnNord]

13 minutes ago, OldTimer1960 said:

Boy, I think Hoecht will be lucky to play much at all next year after a torn Achilles.

He will be back for sure.   It might be more towards the middle of the season.  
 

The only question is whether he’ll be able to play at the level he had been before the injury.  In many cases, it takes most of that first year to get back to normal.  

[Big Turk]

5 minutes ago, JohnNord said:

He will be back for sure.   It might be more towards the middle of the season.  
 

The only question is whether he’ll be able to play at the level he had been before the injury.  In many cases, it takes most of that first year to get back to normal.  

 

Those Achilles repairs have gotten much better with faster recovery times as the procedure Rodgers had has now been widely accepted as the best way to go about it. Much faster recovery time and much faster return to normal baseline performance.

Edited February 10 by Big Turk

[Ethan in Cleveland]

Shavers was a nice story Assuming they are committed to keeping Coleman for another year, a decent draft, and a FA or two he is probably not making the final 53 even if healthy. He will be PUP and depending on how draft and FA work out may be an injury settlement release. If they move Coleman in the off season then Shavers has a good chance to be mid-season call up from PUP.

 

Hoecht you can also pencil in for PUP. Best case he is a contributor in December.  I'd be fine cutting the PED cheat if it saves any money. They should have gotten out of the contract as soon as he tested positive. 

 

Strong will be lucky to play again and that is probably 2027 not this year. 

 

Will be interesting to see what they do at  Center. McGovern played hurt most of the year with elbow and maybe shoulder issues.  He is probably a cap casualty. Time to see VanPran or Anderson step up. 

 

Then there is Palmer. Beane spoke high of him in the game plan where he got hurt. Atlanta game I think. Should not be a long term injury. He would be acceptable WR2 for another year. 

 

Bass should be healthy.  I'd shed his salary.  A little under $4M in cap savings. You can get Prater or a rookie on much less. 

 

Josh, Ed O, and Hairston should be 100% by OTA.

 

Kincaid is the biggest question mark of the bunch. Really need him to be a contributor and stay healthy.  Hope they are making correct decision to not do surgery now.  I don't know much about torn PCLs. 

 

Am I missing anyone?

 

 

 

[eball]

2 minutes ago, Ethan in Cleveland said:

Hoecht you can also pencil in for PUP. Best case he is a contributor in December.  I'd be fine cutting the PED cheat if it saves any money. They should have gotten out of the contract as soon as he tested positive. 

Wow, some strong comments here. First, Beane knew about the suspension when he signed him. Second, Hoecht looked like everything we hoped for when he came back. If he is recovered I expect him to be an integral part of this defense. 
 

[DapperCam]

Landon Jackson is another guy who was supposed to be depth and tore his MCL and PCL at the beginning of November getting rolled up on in the pile.

 

I’m not sure what recovery time is for that.

[OldTimer1960]

31 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

 

Those Achilles repairs have gotten much better with faster recovery times as the procedure Rodgers had has now been widely accepted as the best way to go about it. Much faster recovery time and much faster return to normal baseline performance.

Aaron Rodgers doesn’t rely on explosive movements for his success like Hoecht will have to. I’m rooting for Hoecht to make a great comeback to pre-injury form, but from what I’m reading that is far from a certainty.

[Not at the table Karlos]

51 minutes ago, OldTimer1960 said:

Boy, I think Hoecht will be lucky to play much at all next year after a torn Achilles.

I agree with this. IF(big if) he’s back to start the year he will most likely be a shell of himself. Achilles takes a while to come back from if they ever regain form. 

[Not at the table Karlos]

36 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

 

Those Achilles repairs have gotten much better with faster recovery times as the procedure Rodgers had has now been widely accepted as the best way to go about it. Much faster recovery time and much faster return to normal baseline performance.

I knew someone was gonna use Rodgers. Rodgers is a poor example. He isn’t trying to push 300lb lineman with it every play. Tre white took two years to get back close to his previous level and had the surgery after Rodgers.

[JerseyBills]

1 hour ago, Jerome007 said:

It happened in week 6. So, hard to know when he'll come back. He was a force for those 6 quarters he played. That D could have got the Bills to the Superbowl... Hopefully he is full strenght by  mid -season

It was week 6? Didn't he have a 6 game suspension and played 1 game and got injured in the next..? 

[JohnNord]

51 minutes ago, eball said:

Wow, some strong comments here. First, Beane knew about the suspension when he signed him. Second, Hoecht looked like everything we hoped for when he came back. If he is recovered I expect him to be an integral part of this defense. 
 

I think he’s starting the season in PUP but see him returning before December for sure.  And yes, Beane knew about Hoecht.  Larry Ogunjobi blindsided him