Joey Bosa out for ‘foreseeable’ future with pulled calf, set to miss Buffalo Bills OTAs

Five-time Pro Bowl pass rusher Joey Bosa missed extensive time over the last three seasons with injuries, and he is already on the shelf to start his Buffalo Bills career. Coach Sean McDermott said at the beginning of OTAs that Bosa pulled a calf muscle last week and will likely be unavailable until training camp. The injury is a hiccup as he gears up for his debut season with the Bills after he excelled over nine years with the Los Angeles Chargers.

Bosa sat nine games in 2018 and missed an additional 23 contests across the last three years with injuries. When healthy, though, the veteran pass rusher is one of the most disruptive defensive players in the NFL. He won the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year award in 2016 and rattled off five Pro Bowl selections, including his most recent one last season.

“Joey Bosa will not participate today,” McDermott said Tuesday at OTAs. “He pulled a calf. I believe it was late last week. Thursday, I believe. He’ll be out for, more than likely, the foreseeable (future). Springtime at least, and then we’ll get into training camp. Should be good to go by training camp. But understand it just happened late last week, so still in kind of the exploratory phase of what that’s going to mean.”

This offseason is Bosa’s first with the Bills. The Chargers released him in March, and it took less than a week for him to find a landing spot as Buffalo signed him to a one-year, $12.6 million deal. He steps in as a replacement for Von Miller, whom the franchise released halfway through a six-year contract.

“Joey was off to a good start before that,” McDermott said, “and so it’s unfortunate to see him go down, but it offers someone else an opportunity to step up and get some quality reps for us as we move forward.”

Bosa, an Ohio State product, was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft and quickly cemented himself as a highly feared defensive star. Four times, he amassed double-digit sacks and tackles for loss with the Chargers. His numbers diminished, however, since his most recent fully healthy campaign in 2021.

Six different injuries cost Bosa playing time across his nine years with the Chargers. He sustained a hamstring strain, a foot bone bruise, two concussions, a groin tear and a foot sprain in that span.

“Listen, it is concerning,” McDermott said of Bosa’s injury history. “Durability, availability are key ties to our roster. And so we basically look ahead in terms of what he’s doing now, which is getting himself the treatment that he needs, and he’s working hard at it. That’s all that he can control right now. We get him back when we get him back. Probably, at this point, training camp. We’re going to do the best job we can, and I know he is, as well, and just take it one day at a time.”