SUNDAY, 8:15pm: Rand Getlin of the NFL Network tweets that Ragland is set to undergo surgery on Tuesday. The linebacker will have his ACL repaired at the The Andrews Institute in Gulf Breeze, Florida.
WEDNESDAY, 8:26am: Based on the initial tests, Bills linebacker Reggie Ragland is expected to land on IR after suffering a tear in his ACL, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Rapoport notes that Kiko Alonso had a similar injury and returned, but the odds are not in the rookie’s favor. The Bills have confirmed via press release that Ragland is expected to miss the 2016 season.
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Ragland will go under the knife later this week to fix his partially torn ACL, though it is believed that the knee has additional damage (link). Initially, there was some hope that Ragland might only have to miss 6-8 weeks (link), but doctors are now fearing the worst.
The Bills traded up in the second round this year to land Ragland, considered to be one of their top targets. Soon after the draft, Bills GM Doug Whaley boasted that Ragland would be one of three rookies in the team’s starting lineup to start the season. Unfortunately, Buffalo won’t see its top two picks on the field for a while.
“At least three,” Whaley said in May when asked how many of his rookies will be on the field in Week 1. “[First-round defensive end] Shaq Lawson is going to walk in off the bus starting. [Second-round linebacker] Reggie Ragland, and then [third-round defensive tackle] Adolphus Washington — all three of those guys will start right off the bus. And we’re excited for some guys from the fourth through sixth rounds that will contribute for us.”
The Bills have been bracing for bad news on Ragland, as evidenced by the signings of linebackers David Hawthorne and Brandon Spikes.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Is it too early for the ‘maybe next year’ wagon for us?