{"id":438538,"date":"2025-10-11T18:49:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T18:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/438538\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T18:49:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T18:49:10","slug":"bills-to-place-t-j-sanders-damar-hamlin-on-ir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/438538\/","title":{"rendered":"Bills To Place T.J. Sanders, Damar Hamlin On IR"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Bills will place defensive tackle T.J. Sanders<\/a> and safety Damar Hamlin<\/a> on injured reserve, head coach Sean McDermott announced (via Joe Buscaglia of The Athletic<\/a>). Sanders will undergo knee surgery, while Hamlin is dealing with a pectoral injury. Both players will miss at least four games. It\u2019s more likely that Sanders will return than Hamlin this year, McDermott said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Bills moved up<\/a> in last spring\u2019s draft to grab Sanders with the 41st overall pick. The former South Carolina standout has gotten off to a slow start in the NFL. Over four games and 111 defensive snaps, Sanders has picked up two tackles. Pro Football Focus<\/a> (subscription required) ranks his performance 115th among 120 qualifying defensive tackles.<\/p>\n

Although Sanders has struggled in the early going, losing him is an unwelcome hit to the Bills\u2019 depth. They\u2019ve already gone without their best defensive tackle, Ed Oliver<\/a>, in every game since his tremendous Week 1 effort in a win over the Ravens. Oliver has been down with an ankle injury over the past few weeks, but he could return against the Falcons on Monday night.<\/p>\n

If Oliver comes back this week, he\u2019ll comprise the Bills\u2019 top two at DT alongside DaQuan Jones<\/a>. Rookie fourth-rounder Deone Walker<\/a>, who has played well, is also in the mix. The Bills have Zion Logue<\/a>, Jordan Phillips<\/a>, and Phidarian Mathis<\/a> on their practice squad. Offseason free agent addition Larry Ogunjobi<\/a> will be eligible to return from a six-game PED suspension<\/a> after Buffalo\u2019s Week 7 bye.<\/p>\n

Logue has already received three standard gameday elevations this year, meaning the Bills will have to sign him to their active roster if they want to bring him back for a fourth game. Phillips and Mathis have gotten one call-up apiece, and the former is a candidate for a permanent roster spot in the wake of Sanders\u2019 injury, according to Buscaglia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hamlin was a 14-game starter who logged 98% of defensive snaps in 2024, leading the Bills to re-sign him to a one-year, $2MM deal<\/a> in the offseason. His playing time has significantly decreased this year, though. Hamlin has taken a backseat to second-year safety Cole Bishop<\/a> and worked on a mere 4.2% of defensive snaps. It\u2019s possible that the Bills will add former All-Pro and current practice squad safety Jordan Poyer<\/a> to their roster to take Hamlin\u2019s place, Buscaglia reports.<\/p>\n

Poyer, now 34, was consistently one of Buffalo\u2019s most valuable defenders during his previous stint with them from 2017-23. After the Bills released him in March 2024, Poyer hooked on with the division-rival Dolphins and made 16 starts for them last season. On the heels of his second straight interception-less year, Poyer went without a deal until the Bills signed him to their practice squad<\/a> in late August. A month and a half later, Poyer may be on his way back to their active roster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bills will place defensive tackle T.J. Sanders and safety Damar Hamlin on injured reserve, head coach Sean…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438539,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2048],"tags":[215,214,53,2086,13909,7,1605,3921,6,591,3571],"class_list":{"0":"post-438538","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-buffalo-bills","8":"tag-bills","9":"tag-buffalo","10":"tag-buffalo-bills","11":"tag-buffalobills","12":"tag-damar-hamlin","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-jordan-phillips","15":"tag-jordan-poyer","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-t-j-sanders","18":"tag-transactions"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115357035298252203","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}