Bills Rookie LB Reggie Ragland Undergoing Surgery For Torn ACL, Expected To Miss 2016 Season

Update:

The Buffalo Bills announced Wednesday that that rookie LB Reggie Ragland will undergo surgery for a torn ACL and is expected to miss the season.

Ragland is expected to be placed on injured reserve in the coming days, but it appears unlikely he’ll be able to return in 2016.

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Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Bills second-round LB Reggie Ragland is set to undergo surgery later in the week for his partially torn ACL.

According to Rapoport, Ragland is believed to have other damage in his knee, which is why he’ll have surgery. The procedure will also determine whether Ragland’s injury is season ending or a 6-8 week recovery, but Rapoport says it’s clear he’ll miss some serious time.

With this in mind, Rapoport says that the expectation is that Ragland will end up on injured reserve.

It’s worth mentioning that last year Kiko Alonso suffered a similar injury and was still able to return later on in the year.

This is still disappointing news for the Bills, who have already lost first-round OLB Shaq Lawson for a period of time after he underwent shoulder surgery after this year’s draft.

The Bills wasted little time finding some depth at inside linebacker, as they signed both Brandon Spikes and David Hawthorne to contracts on Sunday.

Ragland, 22, was taken with the No. 41 overall pick by the Bills a few weeks ago. Some expected him to be a first-round selection, but reports mentioned that Ragland was medically flagged for an enlarged aorta before the draft.

It’s hard to say if this really impacted his draft status, but the Bills were clearly fine with his health.

According to OverTheCap.com, Ragland receives a four-year contract worth $5,841,370 to go along with a signing bonus of $2,448,268.

During his college career at Alabama, Ragland recorded 220 tackles, 17.5 tackles for a loss, four sacks, four forced fumbles, three recoveries, an interception and 10 pass defenses.