Bills Bring Back 6-Foot-5 Edge Rusher After Joey Bosa Injury

The Buffalo Bills added some depth to their pass-rushing group, bringing back a 27-year-old for his second stint with the team this season.

The Bills announced on Tuesday that they added defensive end Andre Jones Jr. to the practice squad, adding some depth after suffering a potentially devastating injury. The team is at risk of losing star Joey Bosa for a long stretch after he was knocked out of Sunday’s win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, but now have added some trusted depth to cushion the blow.

Bills Bring Help to Pass Rush

The 6-foot-5 Jones came into the NFL as a seventh-round draft pick in 2023, playing his first two seasons with the Washington Commanders. He appeared in 16 games during his time there, making two starts, and racked up five total tackles with three passes defensed.

Jones joined the Bills in August after being waived by the Commanders, staying with the team until he was released on Nov. 25. The Bills brought him back just one week later.

The Bills have been bringing back some familiar faces to add depth, having also signed former first-round pick Shaq Lawson late last month.

Though Lawson hasn’t appeared in a game in more than a year, he said he felt ready to return to the NFL.

“It was hard (to stay in shape),” Lawson said last week, via SI.com. “You know, staying in South Florida is definitely hard. I work out from (9 a.m. to 1 p.m.), and I’m just chilling the rest of the day. So it was definitely hard, but I just told myself like, hey, I still got a lot left for me, and when my time come for any workouts, I was ready.”

Bills Hit With Key Injury

Jones will help provide some depth after a potentially long-term injury for edge rusher Joey Bosa. After he made a game-changing play in Sunday’s win over the Steelers — sacking quarterback Aaron Rodgers and forcing a fumble that teammate Christian Benford returned for the go-ahead touchdown — Bosa was forced to leave the game with a hamstring injury.

Bosa missed practice on Wednesday, leading head coach Sean McDermott to call it a “week-to-week” injury.

“That can be perceived one of two ways,” McDermott said, via Syracuse.com. “Is it one week or is it like week-to-week as in four or five weeks? So we’re hoping on the shorter end of it.”

While the Bills have not officially ruled out Bosa for Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals, he appears to be headed in the wrong direction.

Bosa has been a big piece of Buffalo’s defense this season, setting a franchise record and leading the league with five forced fumbles. McDermott said it will take the collective efforts of everyone else in the pass-rushing group to make up for his loss.

“We’ve got some of those injuries on (the defensive) side. And some of that is up front as well,” McDermott said. “You can never replace a player like Joey, but it’s someone’s job to step up. And that’s what we’ve been doing and counting on all year, pretty much. So the same is expected this week.”

Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.

This article was originally published on Heavy Sports

The post Bills Bring Back 6-Foot-5 Edge Rusher After Joey Bosa Injury appeared first on Heavy Sports.