Bills lose cornerback White to season-ending injury, prepare to welcome back Miller
Buffalo Bills cornerback Tre’Davious White (27), center, is assisted onto the back of a cart after sustaining an injury during the second half an NFL football game against the Miami Dolphins, Sunday, Oct. 1, in Orchard Park. (Photo: AP/Adrian Kraus)
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Buffalo Bills starting cornerback Tre’Davious White will require season-ending surgery to repair a torn right Achilles tendon, coach Sean McDermott announced on Monday.
“It’s very difficult, very unfortunate and a shame,” McDermott said.
White’s injury is the second major one sustained by the seventh-year player, who had just returned in November after missing a calendar year recovering from a torn right knee ligament.
White was hurt in the final minute of the third quarter of a 48-20 win over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday. He was covering Tyreek Hill up the right sideline when White suddenly pulled up favoring his right leg and fell to the turf. He attempted to get up before falling back to the ground and then took off his helmet and flung it behind him while pounding the turf.
He was carted off with a towel over his head and his hand to his face in dejection.
Despite the injury to White, the team is also preparing to welcome back edge rusher Von Miller.
Miller’s pending return represents a bright side for the Bills (3-1), who have won three straight and prepare to travel to play a “home” game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Sunday.
Miller will resume practicing this week after being sidelined since tearing a right knee ligament in November, though it’s too early to determine when he’ll play.
Miller is cleared to practice while remaining on the physically unable to perform list, which provides the Bills a three-week window for him to be activated.
Miller is the NFL’s active leader in sacks and in his second season with Buffalo. The 34-year-old two-time Super Bowl winner was leading the Bills with eight sacks through 11 games when he was hurt.
White had an interception in starting all four games this season, and showed signs of returning to his 2019 All-Pro form. The Bills eased him back in last season, when he started the final six games of the regular season and two in the playoffs, while saying he was placing an emphasis on being better prepared for the start of this season.
White also acknowledged he had difficulty mentally dealing with his lengthy rehab following knee surgery.
“The first few months were very hard, a very depressing time,” White said in November. “This is unfamiliar territory for me. So it was challenging. But I’m making it through. … I still have days, but more better days than not.”
White has been Buffalo’s starter since being selected in the first round of the 2017 draft out of LSU, and represented the first player selected in McDermott’s first season as coach.
The Bills are down three cornerbacks on their active roster.
The injury provides Kaiir Elam an opportunity to reclaim the role he shared with Christian Benford while filling in for White to open last season. Benford opened this season starting opposite White, while Elam was a healthy inactive through the first four weeks of the season.