Bills’ Poyer ruled out vs. high-scoring Dolphins

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The Buffalo Bills will be without a key member of the team’s defensive backfield for the big Week 4 AFC East clash against the Miami Dolphins. The team has ruled out safety Jordan Poyer for the game as he continues to deal with a knee injury that has kept him out of practice all week.

Poyer suffered the injury during the team’s 37-3 win over the Washington Commanders last Sunday. Backup safety and free agent addition this offseason, Taylor Rapp, is expected to start in his place alongside veteran safety Micah Hyde, who is also dealing with a hamstring injury, but participated in Thursday’s practice.

Rapp has played 23 percent of the team’s defensive snaps, as a third safety or nickel. Poyer, 32, has 14 tackles this season and is in his seventh consecutive season with the Bills and paired with Hyde at safety after re-signing with the team on a two-year deal this offseason. He also missed last year’s road game against the Dolphins, which Miami won 21-19, due to injury. Poyer missed four games due to various injuries in 2022.

The injury also means that safety Damar Hamlin, who has been a healthy scratch through the first three regular season games due to the number of defensive backs on the roster and special teams numbers, has a good chance of being active for the game.

The Dolphins offense is coming off a 70-point performance and has scored 130 points this season, second most through three games all-time.

While there have been a number of other Bills players listed on the injury report this week, coach Sean McDermott said on his weekly radio hit with WGR 550 in Buffalo that he expected all of them to practice on Friday, outside of Poyer, ahead of Sunday’s home game (1 p.m., CBS).