The Bills waited all offseason for safety Jairus Byrd to sign his franchise tender and rejoin his teammates to prepare for the 2013 season.
Byrd finally did that in late August, but the Bills haven’t stopped waiting. Byrd hurt his foot shortly after returning to work and the Bills have gone through the first month of the regular season with Byrd practicing in limited fashion, if at all, and sitting out on gamedays. Tuesday brought a change to that routine as Byrd practiced fully for the first time this season, raising hopes that he might be able to play this Thursday against the Browns.
Byrd has been adamant that he’s not going to play unless he feels 100 percent, a point he reiterated on Tuesday after taking a step forward on the practice field.
“It’s heading in the right direction,” Byrd said, via Mark Gaughan of the Buffalo News. “It’s getting there. It’s something that is chronic. So it takes awhile. Each time you’ve got to see. One day you might feel great and then you have a setback. It might get achy on you. It’s heading in the right direction so we’ll see.”
While the Bills certainly could use Byrd in the lineup, the cautious approach that has ruled the day through the first four weeks suggests that one day of full practice won’t be enough to get Byrd in the lineup. We’ll see what kind of work he does on Wednesday, but the short week may mean that the Bills wait a little longer.