Bills' Nyheim Hines Seeking Legal Action After Knee Injury from Jet Ski Accident

Buffalo Bills running back Nyheim Hines is pursuing legal action regarding the July jet ski collision during which he suffered a season-ending knee injury, according to Hines' attorney Brad Sohn.

According to Sohn, North Carolina authorities cited the other jet ski driver as the cause of the accident.

Hines is engaging with legal representation "to hold the necessary parties accountable for ending his season and costing him potentially many millions of dollars," Sohn said.

Hines underwent ACL reconstruction surgery in early August. His recovery is projected to take one year, according to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero.

According to Pelissero's initial report, Hines was struck "while sitting stationary on a jet ski." Sohn described Hines as "likely traveling about 10mph," while he said the other jet-skier was "traveling at potentially 40mph."

Sohn said his office would be looking into who rented the watercraft to the other rider involved in the collision.

Prior to his knee injury, Hines had worked with the Bills to restructure his previous Indianapolis Colts contract in order to fit under Buffalo's salary cap. The rework left Hines with a base salary of $2.56 million in 2023.

With incentives, however, he would have had the chance to make more than the $4.29 million he was previously scheduled to receive, per NFL Network's Mike Garafolo.

Due to suffering a non-football injury, however, Hines will no longer receive that base salary and could lose parts of promised bonuses as well. Although Hines' new deal included a $1 million signing bonus and $100,000 workout bonus, the Bills proposed withholding $500,000 of that bonus money, NBC Sports' Mike Florio reported in July.

However, the Bills are willing to pay Hines the maximum practice-squad salary of $289,000 in 2023, Florio reported.

Florio noted that the bonus agreement Hines signed "does not expressly identify jet skiing as a prohibited activity."

Hines, who is currently on the Bills' reserve/non-football injury list, is still under contract through 2024.