Bills mounting list of injuries grows to 15 players, with additions of WRs Shakir and Palmer

PITTSFORD, N.Y. (AP) — Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott put aside his concerns over the team’s growing injury list, which now includes starting receiver Khalil Shakir, by saying he has no choice but to move forward in returning to training camp on Sunday.

McDermott followed the Bills day off by opening his pre-practice news conference listing 15 members of Buffalo’s 91-player roster as either being limited or not practicing.

Shakir was among the latest additions and listed week to week with a high ankle sprain after he was hurt during the Bills annual Red and Blue scrimmage at their home stadium on Friday.

Also injured Friday were receiver Josh Palmer (groin), one of the team’s prized offseason free agent additions, and linebacker Shaq Thompson (groin).

The injuries have particularly hit Buffalo's receivers, with Curtis Samuel (hamstring) and backup Kaden Prather also sidelined. That leaves Keon Coleman as the only projected starter still healthy with Buffalo preparing to open the preseason by hosting the New York Giants on Saturday.

“What we’ve tried to do is pull back on some things in hopes of getting some numbers back. And that hasn’t helped,” McDermott added, in reference to cutting back on the number and length of padded practices. “We’re moving forward. It’s time for us to go and we got to get some work done and move this team forward.”

The most serious injury has been to rookie cornerback Maxwell Hairston, who is out indefinitely after spraining a ligament in his right knee last week. Hairston is watching practice on crutches with no definitive timetable for his return.

“It’s going to take some time. He’s week to week,” McDermott said of the first-round draft pick who was competing for a starting job opposite Christian Benford.

"Here’s a young player that is not only missing just the moving around, but also the mental part of the experience you get with through the reps,” he added. “So there’s no way to avoid it, he’s going to be behind when he comes back.”

Injuries have been an issue for the five-time defending AFC East champions since opening training camp with four players on injured lists, including tight end Dawson Knox (calf) and right tackle Spencer Brown (back). Of those four, backup center Sedrick Van Pran-Granger (calf) remains sidelined with McDermott hoping the player will be available to return in time for Buffalo’s preseason finale at Tampa Bay on Aug. 23.

Brown resumed practicing on Sunday as did starting linebacker Terrel Bernard, who missed a week with a hamstring injury.

The rash of injuries has also affected Buffalo’s special teams unit with kicker Tyler Bass sidelined with a pelvis issue.

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Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott, left, and team owner Terry Pegula watch practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in Pittsford, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)

Buffalo Bills cornerback Maxwell Hairston (31) walks to the field before practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 24, 2025, in Pittsford, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)

Buffalo Bills wide receiver Joshua Palmer (5) runs on the field during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in Pittsford, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)

Buffalo Bills wide receiver Khalil Shakir (10) catches a pass during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Sunday, July 27, 2025, in Pittsford, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)

Authorities are searching for a suspect in the killing of Nuno F.G. Loureiro, a prominent physics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who was shot at his home near Boston. Loureiro, a married 47-year-old from Portugal, was shot Monday night and died Tuesday at a local hospital.

Authorities have not disclosed a possible motive, and no suspects were in custody as of Wednesday morning, the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office said.

The shooting in Brookline, Massachusetts, comes days after a deadly attack at another prestigious school in the region, Brown University, where police also haven't identified the suspect who killed two students and wounded nine others. The FBI said it knows of no connection between the two crimes.

Loureiro joined MIT in 2016 and was named last year to lead the school’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, one of its largest laboratories. The center has around 250 researchers working across seven buildings and focuses on advancing clean energy technology and other research.

The professor grew up in Viseu in central Portugal, studied in Lisbon and earned a doctorate in London, according to the university. Before moving to MIT, he worked at a nuclear fusion research institute in Lisbon.

Loureiro studied the behavior of plasma and worked to explain the physics behind astronomical phenomena such as solar flares. His research, according to his obituary on MIT’s news site, “involved the design of fusion devices that could harness the energy of fusing plasmas, bringing the dream of clean, near-limitless fusion power closer to reality.”

“It’s not hyperbole to say MIT is where you go to find solutions to humanity’s biggest problems,” Loureiro told the school's news site when he became head of the plasma lab. “Fusion energy will change the course of human history.”

“He shone a bright light as a mentor, friend, teacher, colleague and leader, and was universally admired for his articulate, compassionate manner,” Dennis Whyte, an engineering professor who previously led MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, told a campus publication.

Deepto Chakrabarty, the William A. M. Burden professor in astrophysics and head of the Department of Physics, described him as a “champion for plasma physics,” a valued colleague and an inspiring mentor to graduate students.

MIT President Sally Kornbluth said the “shocking loss for our community comes in a period of disturbing violence in many other places.”

The Portuguese president’s office also put out a condolence statement calling Loureiro's death “an irreparable loss for science and for all those with whom he worked and lived.”

The investigation into Loureiro’s killing unfolds as Brown University, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) away in Providence, Rhode Island, continues to reel from Saturday’s campus shooting. As the search for the suspect entered its fifth day Wednesday, authorities urged the public to review security or cellphone footage from the week before the attack, saying they believe the gunman may have cased the area beforehand.

A notice encouraging neighbors of Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro to display candles in their windows to honor his life is taped to an apartment door in Brookline, Mass., Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Leah Willingham)

A crowd of people holding candles gather outside the home of Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro in Brookline, Mass., Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Leah Willingham)