Buffalo Bills LB Matt Milano will be out for an extended period of time with a bicep injury suffered in practice earlier this week. Bills head coach Sean McDermott said it's "too early at this point" to know if Milano will be able to return during the 2024 season.
"An unfortunate situation," McDermott said during Thursday's press conference.
"(Matt's) got a good family behind him that's going to support him, teammates that are going to support him, as well as the coaching staff and entire football organization."
Milano, 30, had been making his way back from a season-ending leg injury suffered in Week 5 of the 2023 season and was cleared to fully practice with the Bills ahead of this year's training camp. He suffered the bicep injury during a non-player tackling drill earlier this week in practice.
"Matt was tackling a bag and hit his arm," McDermott said.
McDermott added that Milano is a "resilient player" and is confident the star LB will make a recovery.
"When you know the person, you know this is not going to beat or keep Matt Milano down," the Bills coach said. "He stayed in Buffalo all summer to get back off the leg injury, and now this happens. It's an unfortunate set of circumstances, but again, I know he's going to handle it well."
Buffalo will now call the next man up to fill the void, presumably second-year LB Dorian Williams. In his rookie season, Williams was active for all 17 games during the regular season, making two starts and appearing in 14. He recorded 40 tackles during that span.
"Dorian is going to do a good job, he's been making progress," McDermott said. "And now it's not only his time to step up, but all the teammates around him to step up. It's not just one person's job to fill the void, or try to fill the void left by Matt."
The Bills are in Pittsburgh today for a joint practice with the Steelers. Coverage from the practice can be found later today on BuffaloBills.com.
