Milano still at least a month away from being cleared to practice, coach says

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Buffalo Bills linebacker Matt Milano isn’t expected to be cleared to resume practicing until the team’s three-day mandatory minicamp next month at the earliest, coach Sean McDermott said on Tuesday.

McDermott added Milano has spent much of the past month working out in Buffalo, and the eighth-year player remains on track in his recovery after sustaining a severe injury to his right leg in Week 5 of last season. Milano was spotted watching practice from the sideline during Buffalo’s second day of voluntary spring sessions.

“It’s probably going to be more closer to training camp until we see him out there, maybe some drill work before that, maybe not,” McDermott said of the 2022 All-Pro player, and a fixture in the middle of the Bills defense since his rookie season in 2017. “It’ll just be how he continues to progress at this point.”

Milano, one of the team’s most dependable tacklers, required surgery after breaking his leg and sustaining other damage during a 25-20 loss to Jacksonville in a game played at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Oct. 8.

McDermott said starting right tackle Spencer Brown is being eased back in after having offseason shoulder surgery.

The Bills have three more weeks of voluntary sessions before opening mandatory camp in mid-June. The team is then off until opening training camp in suburban Rochester, New York, on July 24.