ORCHARD PARK - The Buffalo Bills’ injury report may not be as troublesome as it looked earlier in the week, but it remains a concern heading into Sunday night’s AFC divisional round playoff game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Coach Sean McDermott announced Friday morning that cornerback Christian Benford, wide receiver Gabe Davis, linebacker Baylon Spector, and safety Taylor Rapp will all miss the game.

On the positive side, cornerbacks Taron Johnson and Rasul Douglas, linebackers Terrel Bernard and Tyrel Dodson, and punter Sam Martin have a chance to play, though we really won’t know until the game day inactive list is announced 90 minutes before the 6:30 p.m. kickoff.

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And in a surprising development, McDermott added wide receiver Stefon Diggs would be “limited at best” in Friday’s practice due to a foot injury. The expectation is that he’ll play, but you have to wonder how problematic the injury is. Friday, Diggs did indicate in the locker room that he'd be fine.

Meanwhile in Kansas City, the Chiefs really couldn’t be any healthier as they list only one key player - nose tackle Derrick Nnadi - who is out. Also out are offensive lineman Wanya Morris and wide receiver Skyy Moore. They also won’t have safety Bryan Cook, but he was hurt more than a month ago and hasn’t played since.

Who will replace injured Bills starters?

Dane Jackson will start in place of Benford, and if Douglas can’t play, Kaiir Elam will have to step in. Johnson told reporters he thinks he'll be good to go, but he remains in concussion protocol and still has to pass one more test Saturday.

McDermott said Bernard has a chance, but that still seems unlikely. He was carted off the field last week against the Steelers and was in an air cast and on crutches afterward. X-rays were negative, but he did not practice all week so if he plays Sunday, that would be quite an accomplishment.

If Bernard can’t play, the Bills will probably turn to veteran AJ Klein to be the signal caller in the middle. Klein just rejoined the team’s practice squad last week, was elevated to the game day roster, and wound up playing more than half the game against Pittsburgh and led the Bills with 11 tackles.

Dodson being able to return to his outside position would be critical because if he can’t, it probably means rookie Dorian Williams would have to start, and the only other healthy linebacker would be Tyler Matakevich, a core special teamer who is essentially nothing more than an emergency linebacker.

At wide receiver, Trent Sherfield will once again fill Davis’ role. As the season has gone on, Davis’ main contributions came in blocking for the run, and running clear out routes to pull coverage away from Stefon Diggs and Dalton Kincaid. Sherfield is perfectly capable of doing that as we saw against the Dolphins (after Davis got hurt) and the Steelers.

Rapp’s role as the third safety has been handled by Cam Lewis, and if Martin can’t play, the Bills will elevate newly signed punter Matt Haack who will handle punts and placekick holds for Tyler Bass, roles he had with Buffalo in 2021.

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. To subscribe to Sal's newsletter, Bills Blast, which comes out twice a week during the season, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Buffalo Bills injury report: Stefon Diggs a surprise addition