NFL star ruled out for season after freak jet ski accident before training camp
Buffalo Bills running back Nyheim Hines suffered a freak injury to his knee after a jet ski struck him in a vacation accident just before the deadline to report to team training camp. He will miss the entire 2023 NFL season.
Details of the incident, first reported by NFL Network, remain sparing. The location and date of the incident have not been announced.
But it is believed that Hines was sitting stationary on his jet ski when struck by the moving watercraft. His injuries are not considered life-threatening.
Hines, 26, was readying to join Buffalo for training camp on Wednesday in Rochester, New York, before the off-field setback. The Bills expected to use him in a multi-faceted role in 2023 with both kick return and running back duties in store.
The NC State product was remarkably durable as a pro before this incident. Despite a smaller-than-average 5-foot-9 frame at a physical position, he played 81 regular season games in five years, racking up 2,980 yards from scrimmage between the Indianapolis Colts and Bills.
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He has also scored four career special teams touchdowns — two as a punt returner and two last year as a kick returner. One of those kick return scores came on the first play after the Bills returned to action after Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest on the field.
A fourth-round draft pick in 2018, Hines took on the undersized pass-catching running back role made famous earlier in the 2000s by Darren Sproles. In fact, Hines compared himself at times to the former Philadelphia Eagles star.
Nyheim Hines had been compared to Darren Sproles as an undersized yet effective NFL running back. (Getty Images)"Kind of like the Darren Sproles of [then-Colts coach Frank] Reich's offence," Hines said of his expected role as a rookie. "He told me he's gonna move me all over the field, run the ball, catch the ball. Hopefully I have some return opportunities."
In 2020, already established in the NFL, he added: "As a running back, we're the safety valve. I've always thought I was the safety valve that can take a five-yard dump and turn it into 50. That's really what I've been planning on doing the last two years and hopefully show glimpses of it."
Hines sometimes started with the Colts when Jonathan Taylor missed games, but even when he came off the bench, he proved an important change-of-pace asset. He mostly played special teams after joining Buffalo last year in a midseason trade for Zack Moss and a fifth-round pick.
Bills general manager Brandon Bean said he expected Hines' role to increase in 2023 after getting an entire summer to absorb the team's playbook. Bean planned for Hynes to spell James Cook and Damien Harris in the backfield. He'll now miss the whole campaign, though he will still be under contract with Buffalo next year.
Hines has yet to comment on his injury publicly. However, his pinned tweet seems relevant in light of recent developments. "Gotta take the baby steps forward, and even sometimes back to get to where you want to be," he wrote. "Don't let it phase you, you can't give up."
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