Is Taylor Rapp Playing Today? (Injury Update, Betting Impact for Bills vs. Chiefs)

The latest injury update for Buffalo Bills safety Taylor Rapp in the AFC title game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Bills defensive back Taylor Rapp.
Bills defensive back Taylor Rapp. / Shawn Dowd/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Buffalo Bills will be down a key piece of their secondary on Sunday as safety Taylor Rapp (back, hip) has been ruled out against the Kansas City Chiefs. 

This is a huge blow for the Buffalo defense, as Rapp played in every snap in the wild-card round against the Denver Broncos and finished the regular season with 82 tackles, two picks, one forced fumble, and six passes defended in 14 games. 

With Rapp ruled out, Buffalo is expected to start rookie Cole Bishop in his place. During the regular season, Bishop appeared in 16 games (he made four starts) and recorded 40 tackles, one tackle for loss, two passes defended, and one forced fumble. Bishop has played in both of Buffalo’s playoff games, recording three tackles. 

"Yeah, it's high," Bills head coach Sean McDermott said of his confidence in Bishop earlier this week. "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."

Having a rookie in the secondary against Patrick Mahomes isn’t exactly how the Bills drew up this game, especially since Rapp picked off Mahomes in Buffalo’s regular season win over the Chiefs.

Buffalo is set as a 1.5-point underdog at DraftKings Sportsbook in this game against the Chiefs, and the total in this matchup has risen from 47.5 to 48.5 over the last day, potentially due to Rapp’s injury status. 

The Bills have yet to beat the Chiefs in the Mahomes era in the playoffs, but they’ll look to change that on Sunday night.


Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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Peter Dewey
PETER DEWEY

Peter is a senior editor for Sports Illustrated Betting. He has worked as a writer and editor for BetSided, NBC Sports, the Connecticut Sun and the Meriden Record-Journal covering the NBA, WNBA, NFL, MLB, and more. A New York City resident, he is a hoops fanatic with a soft spot for his New York Knicks.