This update is exactly what Bills fans wanted to hear...

This is exactly what Bills fans wanted to hear, as wide receiver Khalil Shaqir was spotted back at practice on Wednesday for the first time in a few weeks, which is great news for his availability ahead of Week 1's matchup against the Houston Texans. So today, we'll be breaking down the latest injury report from the Bills, including Khalil Shaqir and a few other players, and we'll talk about Shaqir's potential impact on the matchup against the Texans. So welcome in, everybody, to Bills Digest. I'm Ben Volker, and here at Bills Digest, we've got you covered with all things related to the Buffalo Bills. So, as always, if you don't want to miss a thing, make sure to go ahead, hit subscribe, because we'll have a ton of content coming your way, whether it's against the Texans Week 1 or beyond throughout the rest of the 2026 season, we've got you covered here on Bills Digest. And ladies and gentlemen, football is back today, as we have a Super Bowl rematch between the Patriots and the Seahawks, and just like in the Super Bowl, it's going to be a blowout once again. The Seahawks are going to absolutely dominate the Patriots, and it will be a bad day to beat Drake May, and it's going to keep me going until we get to Sunday's game. It's all I can think about tonight, but as we wait for Sunday's game against the Texans, the Bills are back to prepping, back to practicing, and with that, we have the latest injury report from practice on Wednesday. So, this is the rundown of players that were and were not seen at practice on Wednesday. We'll go through who was on the field first. We have Khalil Shakir, Jalen Kilgore, Javon Solomon, and Jude Bowery, and then the two players that were not spotted practicing with the rest of the team were Ty Johnson and Jordan Hancock, and obviously, the biggest name on that list is the announcement that Shakir is back at practice. 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So, if you are interested in trying out Calshi, use the link in the description $25 with Code Digest NFL and get $25 added to your account instantly. Thank you once again to Calshi for sponsoring today's video, and now let's talk about why Khalil Shakir is such a big addition to this Bills roster and why this is great news that he is back at practice, and that is because he was obviously the Bills' number one wide receiver last year. Now, these stats don't pop off the page for a receiver one on pretty much any other squad in the NFL, but he was the Bills' most reliable option throughout all of last season, and this is why he is such a big addition to have back this season, because if you remember, his best game of the season came against the Texans in that Thursday night matchup where he put up this stat line. You can see there that is eight receptions for 110 yards. It was by far his best game of the year, and really, it was surprising because he was being matched up with guys like Kamari Lasseter and Derek Stingley in that very, very strong Texans offense. So, the fact that he was able to put up those numbers against such a good defense was highly impressive, especially considering the rest of the Bills really did not do much on offense for most of the night. Josh Allen was getting sacked, it seemed like every other play, but when he wasn't getting sacked, he was throwing to Khalil Shakir. Now, obviously, Shakir, great game against the Texans last year, and he might be in to do it again, because this year, the pressure is not on Shakir to be the Bills' receiver one, because as we know, the Bills brought in DJ Moore to be that guy in the offseason. So, if you take a guy like Khalil Shakir that was forced into a receiver one role last year that still performed against the Texans, put up over 100 yards on eight receptions, who's to say with a guy like DJ Moore in the mix, that more receptions go to Shakir throughout the game, because there will be less of a focus on him, and he might have that same potential once again. And even if he doesn't go off for over 100 yards and eight receptions, just the fact that he is out there means that the Texans will have to devote some attention to Shakir, which could mean that we could see DJ Moore have a monster game, or hey, even Keon Coleman have a monster game. And look, this is great news for the Bills for another reason, because it also adds another option in their continuing battle for this punt returner role. They announced yesterday that Dee Alford was going to be the primary punt returner according to their first unofficial depth chart, but then Joe Brady said this today. He said, a lot of these guys will get opportunities in practice. Dee Alford, Ray Davis, Khalil Shakir, Keon Coleman, he threw in the mix, they have options. So they're still not giving an answer at the punt returner position. I'm still all in on Greg Dortch. Obviously, if Shakir is healthy for week one, it does kind of lessen the possibility that we do see Dortch in action right away, but it does add another option for the Bills at this punt returner role that's been all up in the air ever since the Nicole Hardman cut. But let me know what you guys think in terms of what Shakir is going to do against the Texans in week one, barring if he plays, obviously. Will he once again have a monster game over 100 yards? Will it be less than that, somewhere between 50 and 100? Do you think maybe he won't be a threat and just kind of a minor, minor threat between 25 and 50? Or will he not make an impact at all, less than 25? Or really, maybe you don't think that Shakir will do anything in this game and he just has no catches and just kind of gets some cardio practice out there. Let me know in the comments and also let me know how many receptions you think Shakir is going to have. Personally, I think for this, I can envision Shakir, I think he'll be between 25 and 50 yards. He's probably not going to be 100%. And obviously, this Texans defense and their secondary is still very, very scary. And it wouldn't surprise me if they kind of ease Shakir back into things. So I'm looking at the 25 to 50 yard range, maybe three to four catches. That's my official prediction for Shakir in this game. But once again, let me know what you guys think in the comments. And let's get to a few more guys that were not spotted at practice. The first one being Ty Johnson. Now, Ty Johnson, he's been injured with a lower body injury. It's speculated to be a hamstring injury. He's been out since the start of August. So it's been a while since we've seen Ty Johnson in action. He must be in tire preseason. So it's not surprising to me that Ty Johnson is still not out there. Obviously, it would have been encouraging to see him practicing. But I do think even if he was practicing, that he might not be ready to go by game time. So it's looking unlikely that Ty Johnson's going to be playing in week one. But I don't think that's the end of the world. The Bills, they view him as one of the best change of pace, third down backs in the league. But I just think this means there will be more opportunities for James Cook in week one. And throw in a little Ray Davis there as well. The second guy that was not spotted at practice was Jordan Hancock. Now, Jordan Hancock had a really great preseason up until his preseason injury. He was drafted as a rookie last year was his rookie year. So he's going into year two. He didn't really find his role in his niche in year one. But it seems like new defensive coordinator Jim Leonard really, really likes Jordan Hancock and wants to get Hancock more involved. Because this is what Leonard said a few weeks ago, before Hancock got hurt. He said, it's good to see a guy coming off an injury. There's no hesitation flying around making plays. He's figuring out what that niche is. And we're asking a lot of him moving around. So clearly, they want to get Hancock involved in this off or in this defense in some capacity. Whatever it is, obviously, that won't happen in week one, it's very unlikely, I think at this point that Hancock does play in week one. So this will have to be saved for a little bit down the road. But when Hancock is eventually healthy, once again, it could be a secret weapon for the Bills, but we'll just have to wait and hold off on that one. But that's all the news that we have for today for you guys. Week one, Sunday, it's rapidly approaching. So make sure if you don't want to miss this thing to hit subscribe, because we've got a ton of more content coming your way, including a matchup analysis tomorrow that I'm really looking forward to. So if you don't want to miss that, hit subscribe. And as always, thanks for watching and Go Bills!