The LCL injury **[Maxwell Hairston](https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/maxwell-hairston-1.html?utm_medium=linker&utm_source=www.profootballrumors.com&utm_campaign=2025-08-26_cfb)** suffered early in training camp will indeed cost him at least four games. The Bills set their initial 53-man roster today, and Hairston is heading to IR.
Buffalo stashed the first-round cornerback on IR, with a return designation covering the rookie and offensive lineman **[Tylan Grable](https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/G/GrabTy00.htm?utm_medium=linker&utm_source=www.profootballrumors.com&utm_campaign=2025-08-26_pfr)**. That duo can return to practice in Week 5, but both players are on the shelf until at least October.
While the Bills breathed a sigh of relief when it was revealed Hairston’s knee injury was not an ACL tear, the LCL sprain he did suffer will cover a chunk of his rookie year. Hairston will lose developmental time because of this injury, as he cannot be designated for return until after the Bills’ Week 4 game. But the team is understandably saving one of its injury activations for a prized prospect.
Hairston and Grable count against Buffalo’s regular-season activation total. The 2024 IR rule change allowed teams to stash two players on IR upon setting their initial 53-man rosters in August, but those players — whether they are activated or not — count against the team’s total. Teams have eight activations each regular season; the Bills are now down to six.
_More to come._