Buffalo Bills place Josh Norman on IR, elevate two from practice squad
The Buffalo Bills placed Josh Norman injured reserve Saturday.
The depth at cornerback has been a concern for most of the offseason and into training camp. It appears it is going to be tested early this year as the Buffalo Bills placed Josh Norman on injured reserve due to a hamstring injury.
The veteran joined the Buffalo Bills this offseason after a few down seasons in Washington. The hope was that he could return near the level of play that he had in 2015 with the Carolina Panthers. At that time, he was playing for Sean McDermott who was their defensive coordinator.
However, a hamstring injury midway through training camp has appeared to linger into the season as the team placed him on injured reserve Saturday. The team had already ruled Norman out for Week 1 but this is certainly surprising considering he was listed as the starter on Wednesday’s release of their depth chart.
Since the Bills placed him on injured reserve, Josh Norman will miss at least the next three games.
The Buffalo Bills will once again turn to last year’s starter, Levi Wallace, to step in and play across the field from Tre’Davious White. The good news is that the New York Jets have dealt with their own injuries at wide receiver and Chris Hogan isn’t the receiving threat he was a few years ago.
In addition to the announcement of Norman, the Bills elevated two players from their practice squad ahead of Sunday’s game. Those players were cornerback Cam Lewis and defensive tackle Justin Zimmer.
As Sal Capaccio of WGR550 notes, this move is part of new roster rules this season for the NFL. Every NFL team has the option to bring players up from the practice squad for that week and send them back to the practice squad after the game without having to go through waivers.
I have confirmed both Cam Lewis and Justin Zimmer are the two elevations from the practice squad the Bills get to use this week. That means they now have an open active roster spot with Josh Norman going on Injured Reserve, and they both will revert back to the PS after the game
— Sal Capaccio 🏈 (@SalSports) September 12, 2020
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It is not surprising that Cam Lewis was called up with the news of Josh Norman going on injured reserve. However, considering the fact that the Buffalo Bills now have an open roster spot on their 53-man roster, it would make sense the Bills keep Lewis on the active roster until Norman returns.