The first injury scare of Bills training camp hit Saturday, and it involved one of the team’s newest veterans.
Safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson was helped off the field and taken to a medical tent after hurting his lower right leg during practice in Pittsford.
The injury happened roughly an hour into the session while he was covering a pass play in a team drill. It looked to be non-contact, with Gardner-Johnson dropping to both knees after the play was over.
As teammates closed in around him, Gardner-Johnson stayed down, holding his calf area and having trouble putting weight on his right leg. Two members of the Bills training staff helped him off the field, and he was later carted back to the locker room with a towel over his head.
Bills general manager Brandon Beane checked on him in the medical tent, but the team had no immediate word on the severity of the injury. “I don’t know anything yet,” Beane told The Associated Press. “Until we get an MRI, we’ll see.”
There was at least some optimism after practice from offensive lineman Dion Dawkins, who was among the players gathered around Gardner-Johnson on the field. Dawkins said coaches had been told that “CJ is OK.”
“I walked up to him and I told him, you all right? Take care of yourself.
Can you walk?” Dawkins said.
“And he got up and he did his thing. He could put weight on his legs so he can walk.
“So we all know that injury is 100% in his league, but he’s all right. And I got the message from coaches that he’s all right, and they’re going to do their protocol.
He’ll get his whatever, like he has to get, he’ll be right back in the loop, but CJ is OK. But it’s a scary thing.”
Gardner-Johnson, an eight-year NFL veteran, signed a one-year contract with the Bills this offseason and was viewed as a candidate for a starting role.
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