Ty Johnson did not practice Thursday for the second straight day, leaving his hamstring status uncertain three days before the Buffalo Bills open the regular season against the Houston Texans.
Johnson has been sidelined since suffering a leg injury in early August, and his continued absence raises real questions about how much of his passing-down workload shifts to James Cook and Ray Davis before the season even kicks off.
The Bills running back left practice early with a knee injury Aug. 8 during one-on-one drills at Buffalo’s new stadium, according to a CBS Sports report. He immediately grabbed his leg and was helped off by trainers, then missed all three of Buffalo’s preseason games while the exact nature of the injury remained unclear for weeks.
Ty Johnson’s Hamstring Timeline
Johnson did not practice Thursday, according to Bills beat writer Sal Capaccio, a day after also sitting out Wednesday’s session. His official designation is a hamstring injury. RotoWire lists an estimated return of Sept. 13, the date of the season opener.
Head coach Joe Brady said in late August that Johnson had resumed sprinting in individual workouts and was “in a good head space.” Johnson still had not rejoined team drills as of Thursday, and Friday’s practice report will likely determine his availability against Houston. He remains on Buffalo’s 53-man roster and has not been placed on injured reserve or the physically unable to perform list.
If Johnson misses another practice Friday, his regular-season debut appears likely to slip beyond Week 1.
Buffalo Bills Running Back Depth Behind James Cook
Cook remains firmly entrenched as Buffalo’s lead back and led the NFL in rushing yards in 2025. Davis serves as the early-down complement, and practice-squad back Frank Gore Jr. worked as the only other healthy running back at Thursday’s session, a setup similar to the wild-card win over Jacksonville last January, when Johnson was also out and Buffalo elevated Gore for depth.
Cook handled 57 percent of Buffalo’s running back snaps last season, with Johnson at 26 percent and Davis at 17 percent, according to RotoWire’s snap-count breakdown. Without Johnson, Cook’s workload on passing downs figures to grow, Davis absorbs a larger complementary role, and Gore serves as the emergency option behind them, with limited experience beyond those postseason snaps.
Johnson signed a two-year, $5 million contract with Buffalo in March 2025 and posted 200 rushing yards and 263 receiving yards last season in a change-of-pace role behind Cook.
Johnson, a sixth-round pick out of Maryland in 2019, rushed for 2,635 yards on 348 carries across four college seasons, according to Sports Reference. The 5-foot-10, 210-pound back bounced from Detroit to the Jets before landing in Buffalo in 2023, carving out a niche as a change-of-pace runner who catches passes out of the backfield rather than a between-the-tackles workhorse.
Bills Announce Ty Johnson Decision Before Texans Game