Bills will be without Taylor Rapp as battle with Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs looms

The Bills have suffered a huge blow to their secondary ahead of Sunday’s AFC Championship Game against the Chiefs.

Bills head coach Sean McDermott announced Friday that starting safety Taylor Rapp will miss Sunday’s game due to a hip injury.

Rapp, who has been dealing with both hip and back-related injuries, has not participated in team practice at all this week.

The 27-year-old started in 14 games at safety this season for the Bills, recording two interceptions and 82 tackles.

Prior to his injury sustained during the Bills’ divisional round win against the Ravens, Rapp picked off Lamar Jackson late in the first quarter.

Rapp also won a Super Bowl as a member of the Rams in 2021.

With Rapp ruled out, rookie Cole Bishop is expected to start on Sunday beside starting safety Damar Hamlin.

Bishop started in four games for the Bills this season due to injuries, and entered the game against the Ravens following Rapp’s injury.

“Yeah, it’s high,” McDermott said to ESPN regarding his confidence in Bishop. “He’s a young player, but at the same time, he’s grown. He went through an injury in training camp, missed a lot of time — that set him back, set his growth back, delayed it at least — and then came in, and he’s grown through each experience, and confident he’ll continue to do that moving forward.”

The second-rounder out of Utah appeared in 16 total games this season, with the majority of his time being spent on special teams.

“It’s easy to say it’s just like any other game, but everybody knows it’s really not,” Bishop told ESPN. “So being able to just prepare throughout the week, and then once Sunday comes, like you’ve done everything you can, so at that point there is really nothing you can be nervous for. You prepared, and now you’ve just got to go make plays.”

In addition to Rapp, the Bills are suffering other injuries on defense, including starting cornerback Christian Benford who remains in concussion protocol.

The Bills are hoping to dethrone the back-to-back defending champions in Kansas City on Sunday.