Indianapolis, Ind. (WGR 550/WBEN) - Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane said this week that linebacker Matt Milano and cornerback Tre’Davious White are both rehabilitating their season-ending injuries from last year.
However, Beane did not want to put a specific timeline on when either may be ready to resume on-field football activities.
"I think it’s still early," said Beane on Tuesday when asked if either would be ready for any offseason activities. "They’re still working through it. I don’t want to commit to that at this point. Both of them are in Buffalo, rehabbing, doing everything they can."
White suffered a torn Achilles in the team’s Week 4 victory over the Miami Dolphins. One week later, Milano broke his leg in a game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in London.
It was the second season-ending leg injury in three seasons for White, who tore his ACL on Thanksgiving night in 2021.
"Tre’Davious has attacked it, just like he did his ACL stuff two years ago," Beane said of White’s rehab. "Such an unfortunate thing for him after all he did to come back from the ACL, and was fired up to be heathy coming into the year, and that happens to him."
Milano was coming off an All-Pro season in 2022 and playing terrific football though the first four weeks before fracturing his leg at the end of a play.
"Matt’s was a freak deal, kind of a non-traditional type of football injury," Beane said. "We haven’t had a guy, since I’ve been here, with that type of injury, but he’s seen the docs, he’s rehabbing. We’ll ultimately see when he’s ready, whether it’s OTAs or whether we have to wait all the way to July."
Milano is under contract for three more seasons. There’s no indication he shouldn’t be able to fully recover.
White's injury may be a little more difficult to predict.
He has two years remaining on his contract, but has a large $16.4 million salary cap hit this season. The Bills could release him and save over $6 million of that money, but still take on a dead cap hit of over $10 million.
They could also look to restructure White's contract in some way, reducing that cap number. While Beane sorts through that situation, he said he's confident White will do everything he can to get back on the field and play at a high level.
"We put all that into the equation," Beane said. "The person, the character. You’re not going to find a higher character than Tre’. You obviously put in the medical, like what does your medical team think? When will Tre’, in this case, look like the Tre’ of old? What does that look like? Is that training camp? Is that midseason? is that two seasons from now? You do that with any player, but his DNA definitely helps give you confidence."