Buffalo Bills Suffer Serious Injury Setback But Could This Be A Recipe For A New (Dalvin) Cook?

Running back Nyheim Hines will not play the 2023 season for the Buffalo Bills after he suffered a significant knee injury in a jet ski accident.

Hines will not be able to pass his physical when Bills veterans are scheduled to report on Tuesday at St. John Fisher University in Rochester. He will require surgery and be placed on season-ending injured reserve.

And that leaves a question:

How do the Bills replace him?

It's not as simple as it seems.

Bills Nyheim Hines Out For Season

The obvious approach would be to add another running back. Hines has been a backup running back during his career, most of that with the Indianapolis Colts.

But Hines didn't necessarily fill that role when he was dealt to the Bills at the trade deadline last season. Hines, 26, actually carried the ball six times in the nine games he played for Buffalo. And he lost 3 total yards on those carries.

So that wasn't the Hines role.

He was actually the team's kickoff return specialist -- a role in which turned in a stunning performance in a game against the New England Patriots. That game last January gave the Bills a palpable lift amid the Damar Hamlin crisis.

The Bills were also looking at Hines as a pass-catching option out of the backfield on obvious passing downs this season.

So the Bills might opt to turn their top kick and punt return sights to James Cook, Khalil Shakir and Deonte Harty or perhaps bring in a lesser experienced player to compete there and use as a core special teams player.

It will be interesting to see what they do about pass catching options out of the backfield so this is problematic.

But...

Bills Could Go All-In With Dalvin Cook

This setback is also an opportunity if the Bills choose to go that direction.

The team, you see, has been more than content to bide time and wait on prices to come down for a free agent running back ...

... Particularly a free agent running back named Dalvin Cook.

The Bills actually have not been near the most active teams talking with the Cook camp. That has been the Miami Dolphins, New York Jets and others.

None of those teams have yet decided they want to invest in Cook at the level he wishes to be paid in 2023. (It is unclear precisely what that level is now but when he was cut by the Vikings, he wanted to earn at least $11 million this season, which is what he was scheduled to earn under his old Minnesota contract.)

Nyheim Hines of the Buffalo Bills warms up prior to the game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paycor Stadium on January 02, 2023 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)

Nyheim Hines Void Now An Issue

That salary expectation has almost certainly dropped as Cook has seen over the past six weeks that no team is willing to meet that and the running back market has crashed among all non-special teams players.

But Cook has been waiting for a team that believes it has its running back void to come calling if their top ball carrier gets injured during training camp or the preseason. That scenario is not precisely playing out in Buffalo, but sort of.

So the Bills are going to be discussing the idea of turning to someone such as Cook.

The Bills still have James Cook, Damien Harris and Latavius Murray on their running back depth chart. Cook would still be a luxury.

So would the addition of Ezekiel Elliott, Leonard Fournette, Kareem Hunt or perhaps even J.D. McKissic. Will be the Bills show any interest in any of those? Elliott, Fournette and Hunt are not playing special teams. McKissic hasn't returned kicks since 2019.

The answer will play out in the coming days.

Follow on Twitter: @ArmandoSalguero