Buffalo Bills: Wishing Cyrus Kouandjio a Safe/Speedy Recovery

Buffalo Bills’ OT Cyrus Kouandjio suffered an unfortunate hip injury (non-football related) and had surgery on Wednesday.

Cyrus Kouandjio had a promising year for the Buffalo Bills in 2016, especially as the season came to an end. He played in 12 games and started 5 of them, replacing Cordy Glenn when he was injured.

He showed a lot of promise at left tackle and is expected to fight for more snaps this offseason. Unfortunately, he will have to start a little late due to a hip injury he suffered on Wednesday. It was non-football related and happened at his home, but did require surgery — which he underwent immediately.

Here’s what Doug Whaley said about the situation:

"“It just came up. It was a non-football injury where it happened. It had nothing to do with football. He wasn’t doing any football related activity.”"

So, did it have anything to do with football? (sarcasm)

Although the team expects him to be fully healthy by the time training camp comes along, it does mean he will likely miss all of the OTA’s and minicamp activities. Coming into his fourth season with the team, it normally wouldn’t make that big of a difference. Unfortunately, with a completely new coaching staff, any time off the field will hurt.

Cyrus Kouandjio got a big opportunity in the Buffalo Bills‘ final three games of the season, with Cordy Glenn out. He played in 100% of the team’s offensive snaps in those three games and showed signs of improvement.

A second round draft pick by the Bills in 2014, many fans were ready to move on from him and many called him a bust. He certainly hasn’t reached expectations, but it’s clear he hasn’t hit his peak either. He was originally expected to fight for a starting role right away, but got beat out by Jordan Mills and Seantrel Henderson.

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Jordan Mills has only proven that he’s not the right guy to give the starting role and is set to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason. With that being said, Mills most likely won’t be here next season. In addition, Seantrel Henderson is still having issues with his battle with Crohn’s disease, so we aren’t sure what to expect from that.

One thing the Buffalo Bills could do is switch Cordy Glenn to the right side, since Glenn will produce well on either side. That would allow Cyrus Kouandjio to stay on the left side, where he has proven to be best. The only thing that would really get in the way is this surgery and him not being on the field most of the offseason.

It could definitely set him back and if that happens, the Buffalo Bills will be forced to find some help in the draft or free agency. It’s something that they were probably going to do anyway, but now it’s even more critical that they find the right guy.

Assuming Kouandjio has a safe and speedy recovery, he shouldn’t have a lot of difficulties getting back into the swing of things. He seems to have a lot of momentum on his side, especially after fulfilling his lifelong dream of becoming a US citizen a few months ago. He was born in Cameroon and moved to the US with his family when he was 4 years old, in search of a better life.

He has certainly achieved that, along with his brother Arie Kouandjio — who is a guard for the Washington Redskins.

Cyrus Kouandjio will be back and will continue to prove why the Buffalo Bills were right in drafting him, even if it has taken longer than expected.

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With the need for an offensive tackle even more critical, who would you like to see the Buffalo Bills sign? Leave your comments below!

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