Bills WR Amari Cooper's likely injury return vs. Chiefs comes with extra precaution
The Buffalo Bills may have wide receiver Amari Cooper back for their highly anticipated matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs this weekend, but Cooper, if he does play, will look a bit different than usual.
Cooper picked up an injury to his wrist during the Bills' 31-10 win over the Seattle Seahawks in Week 8. As a result, he missed Buffalo's last two games, wins over the Miami Dolphins and Indianapolis Colts.
Ahead of a big game against the Chiefs, who have eliminated Buffalo from the playoffs three of the last four seasons, Cooper is questionable and has been a limited participant in practice this week.
If Cooper is able to go against Kansas City on Sunday, it is expected he will play with the cast on his wrist with which he has been practicing.
"Definitely feeling better. Definitely more comfortable," Cooper said, via the Batavia Daily News [h/t CBS Sports. "So, just ready to play football again."
"It felt good," Cooper said of the cast. "Like I said, I don't really feel pain or anything catching the ball. I've just got to get used to it — catching the ball with it."
Amari Cooper, Bills prepare for clash with Chiefs
The Bills acquired Cooper from the Cleveland Browns in a trade on Oct. 15 that sent a 2025 third-round pick and a 2026 seventh-round pick to Cleveland in exchange for Cooper and a 2025 sixth-round pick from the Detroit Lions.
In the two games he has played with the Bills, Cooper has recorded 5 catches, 69 yards, and one touchdown. He had caught 24 passes for 250 yards and 2 touchdowns in six games with Cleveland earlier this season amid Deshaun Watson's poor play.
With a win on Sunday, Buffalo (8-2) would not only hand Kansas City (9-0) its first loss of the season, but it would also put the Bills just half of a game behind the Chiefs for the AFC's top seed . The No. 1 seed in each conference receives a bye into the Divisional round of the playoffs, as well as home-field advantage until the Super Bowl.
The advantage did not seem as effective in January, though, when the Chiefs eliminated the Bills from the playoffs in frigid Buffalo.
While the Chiefs have gotten the better of the Bills in the playoffs, Josh Allen and Buffalo have won the last three regular-season meetings between the teams; the Bills won 38-20 in 2021, 24-20 in 2022, and 20-17 last year in a game that saw the Chiefs lose after a controversial offensive offsides call.
Sunday's game between the Chiefs and Bills will kick off at approximately 4:25 p.m ET / 3:25 p.m CT in Buffalo. The game will be broadcast nationally on CBS.
