Wild card round starts this weekend and the Buffalo Bills are going to be part of the madness on Sunday at 1PM when they take the field to take on the Jacksonville Jaguars. Buffalo jumped up to the 6-seed after their win against the Jets, and the Chargers losing to the Broncos.
The Bills don’t have any big time injuries to deal with this week, but there is a high chance that Buffalo may not have their first-round rookie cornerback in Maxwell Hairston. According to Sean McDermott per Lance Lysowski, it is “unlikely” that Hairston will play in the first round after hurting his ankle against the Jets.
In addition to Hairston, the Bills might also be facing another key injury depending on how this week plays out. According to McDermott per Lysowski, kicker Matt Prater is listed day-to-day with re-injuring his quad that kept him out for two games in December. The Bills will be bringing in kickers for a tryout, just in case Prater is not ready to go.
Bills cornerback Maxwell Hairston (ankle) is unlikely to play in the game Sunday at Jacksonville, said Sean McDermott.
— Lance Lysowski (@LLysowski) January 5, 2026
Matt Prater (quad) is day to day, but the team is going to bring kickers in for a tryout. Plan is to have a contingency plan in place in case he can't go.
Bills fans need top be concerned about possibly not seeing Matt Prater on Sunday
When Prater was set to miss time last month, the Bills had signed Michael Badgley to the practice squad, and was elevated for both games against the Browns and Eagles. He missed two extra point attempts in two weeks and one of them you could consider the main factor as to why Buffalo lost against Philadelphia.
With Prater once again dealing with a quad injury, there could very well be yet another chance that he misses a little bit of time and it’s the wrong time. Heading into the playoffs, you want to be at full strength as much as possible.
When it comes to special teams, they could easily decide who wins and who loses. Look at what just happened with the Ravens on Sunday Night Football. All that Tyler Loop had to do was hit a 44-yard field goal to send the Ravens to the playoffs, and he went wide right.
Playoff games are close and the last thing that the Bills want is to have it come down to a kicker that has not been with the Bills this entire season. We will have to wait and see what the Bills do when it comes to the kicker position.