ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — According to an NFL insider, Buffalo Bills linebacker Matt Milano will miss a significant portion of the upcoming season.
Milano is said to be "out indefinitely" after tearing his bicep during the teams Tuesday practice, according to Adam Schefter.
In Schefter's report posted to social media on Thursday he wrote "Milano will undergo surgery on his torn bicep with the hope of trying to return later this season, possibly in December."
This is the second straight year of a serious injuries for the All-Pro linebacker. Last season he fractured his leg in a Week-5 game against the Jaguars, taking him out of the rest of the Bills season.
The Bills' 2023 third-round pick linebacker Dorian Williams is next on the depth chart and will be called upon to help the team replace Milano's production wrote Schefter.
2 On Your Side's Jon Scott was in Pittsburgh on Thursday for the Bills joint practice with the Steelers ahead of Saturday's preseason game.
"Sean McDermott says too early to say whether or not Matt Milano will return this season. Believe injury occurred Tuesday during tackling drill," Scott said.
As of 12:38 p.m. on Thursday the Bills confirmed the speculated reports to their social media pages writing, "Coach McDermott: It’s unfortunate news regarding Matt Milano’s bicep injury. He’s a resilient person and we’re all here to support him."
The injury is the latest setback for the 30-year-old. Milano was being eased back since being cleared to resume practice in mid-June after recovering from a broken right leg, which forced him to miss the final 12 games of last season.
“That’s probably one of the hardest pills to swallow right now, is we just saw him work his butt off ... and now this happened,” McDermott said. “He’s resilient and we’ve got to be resilient. We’ve got to move forward and be focused on solutions."
The four-time defending AFC East champion Bills currently don’t have many answers on their roster in once again having to replace the 2022 All-Pro, who plays a critical role in Buffalo’s two-linebacker defensive system alongside middle linebacker Terrel Bernard.
Though relatively undersized at 6 feet and 223 pounds, Milano’s sideline-to-sideline speed, and hard-hitting ability has led to him being a three-down player since his rookie season in 2017.
Milano’s injury further exposes the Bills’ lack of experience on defense following an offseason of salary cap-forced turnover, which led to the breakup of the team’s veteran secondary. Also not re-signed was backup linebacker Tyrel Dodson, who is now in Seattle and who started 10 games in place of Milano last season.
Milano’s primary backups are second-year player Dorian Williams and rookie fifth-round pick Edefuan Ulofoshio.
The only backup linebackers on Buffalo’s roster with more than three seasons of NFL experience are Deion Jones and Nicholas Morrow, who has missed a large portion of training camp with an ankle injury.
“Dorian’s going to do a good job. He’s been making progress,” McDermott said. “You’re never going to replace a player like Matt or Matt’s influence. But it’s time for our team to move forward in a resilient manner and pick each other up. And guys like Dorian have to step up.”
McDermott also announced backup third-year linebacker Baylon Spector will miss at least a week with a calf injury.