Former NC State, Garner star Nyheim Hines expected to miss upcoming NFL season due to knee injury
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WTVD) -- Buffalo Bills running back Nyheim Hines suffered a season-ending knee injury just over a month before the start of the season, according to ESPN reporting.
Hines, 26, is a former star player at NC State and Garner High School.
A source told ESPN that Hines' injury happened away from the team's facility.
He spent the first five seasons of his NFL career with the Indianapolis Colts, but he was traded to the Bills last season before the trade deadline. He featured mostly just on special teams for the Bills last season. He had 16 punt returns and 19 kick returns in the regular season. Two of those returns will be remembered for a long time in Bills history with Hines returning two kickoffs for touchdowns against the New England Patriots in the final game of the regular season and the first since Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest in Cincinnati.
Hines was looking to expand his role in the offense this year after having more time to learn the playbook.
"I think it will be easier in an offseason to get in the whole playbook, get the feel," general manager Brandon Beane said on Hines' lack of touches at the end of last year. "You kind of install a lot more things than you do in season. So, yeah, I mean, in a perfect world, woulda loved to get him more touches and hopefully that will happen next season."
Hines' contract was restructured this offseason to reduce his cap hit this year from $4.79M to $3.5M, saving the team about $1.3 million. In the restructure, he also received a $1 million signing bonus, spread out over this year and next, with a total of $2 million guaranteed on his contract.
