Nyheim Hines suffers season-ending injury in freak Jet Ski accident

Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images

The Buffalo Bills will be without Nyheim Hines this season following a freak accident

On the cusp of training camp the Buffalo Bills received some difficult news. Due to non-football injuries, running back Nyheim Hines will be out for the entire 2023 season.

The news was first shared by Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network, who noted that Hines suffered a “significant knee injury off-site and is expected to miss the entire 2023 season.” Pelissero then provided an update, reporting that the injury was a freak jet-ski accident, that happened while Hines was stationary on a jet-ski and he was struck by another rider:

As noted by Pelissero, Hines suffered ”serious, but non-life threatening injuries.”

Buffalo acquired Hines ahead of the 2022 trade deadline, sending running back Zack Moss and a conditional sixth-round pick in 2023 to the Indianapolis Colts in exchange for the running back.

Hines appeared in nine games for the Bills, starting one. He caught 5 passes for 53 yards and a touchdown out of the backfield for Buffalo. His biggest contribution with the Bills came on special teams. Hines had 19 kickoff returns last year for 554 yards — an average of 292 yards per return — and a pair of touchdowns.

Both of those touchdowns came in the season finale against the New England Patriots, in rather dramatic fashion. Damar Hamlin was back at Highmark Stadium to watch his team play, and on the very first play since Hamlin collapsed against the Cincinnati Bengals, Hines did this:

Hines was expected to be the team’s primary returner again this season, as well as carving out a rotational role in the backfield. With his injury, Buffalo likely looks to Latavius Murray to take on that rotational role in the running back room, while wide receiver Deonte Harty might be the next man up in the return game.