The Bills haven’t quite sorted out their wide receivers after Stevie Johnson, which makes Johnson’s presence quite important to the team’s offense this season.
There’s no reason to doubt that Johnson will be in the lineup come Week One, but the Bills have gotten an unwelcome reminder of Johnson’s recent injury history this week. Joe Buscaglia of WGR 550 in Buffalo reports that Johnson has spent every special teams period riding a stationary bike on the sideline to keep his groin loose. Johnson hasn’t missed any drills, but he did admit to feeling soreness in his surgically repaired groin and suspected he’d be following a similar routine all season.
“I’ll probably be on that like maybe throughout the season because I don’t want any ‘what if’s’ while I’m sitting down not doing anything and then I get out there and do something -- pop, and there you go with another groin injury,” Johnson said. “So I just try to stay active a little bit, walking around and stretching.”
Soreness after surgery is an expected part of the process so Johnson’s status isn’t cause for alarm. Muscle injuries have a nasty way of lingering, however, and that will make Johnson’s health a constant storyline to follow for Buffalo whether or not they are able to find other receivers capable of heavy lifting in the offense this season.