The Buffalo Bills are bringing back a familiar face to bolster their injury-plagued pass rush.
Buffalo inked 2016 first-round pick Shaq Lawson to its practice squad Tuesday for his third separate stint with the Bills in his 10-season NFL career.
Lawson, 31, was the 19th overall pick of his draft year and has not played yet this year. He last spent time with the Carolina Panthers a season ago, logging just 14 snaps in his lone game against the Washington Commanders.
Lawson has 26 sacks and 121 solo tackles in 110 NFL games for the Bills, Panthers, New York Jets and Miami Dolphins.
The Bills (7-4) will take on the Pittsburgh Steelers (6-5) on Sunday at Acrisure Stadium in a key game between two AFC wild-card hopefuls.
The Bills Added Shaq Lawson For Depth At Defensive End
Buffalo’s pass rush has not been game-wrecking this year anyway, despite the addition of free agent outside linebacker Joey Bosa, who leads it in QB hits (14) and leads the NFL in forced fumbles (4)
Though Bosa and tandem EDGE Gregory Rousseau lead the team in sacks, with four and three respectively, the Bills are tied for 15th in the NFL with 25 sacks.
But injuries have made their DE/OLB spots even thinner. AJ Espenesa sustained a neck injury in Buffalo’s four-point loss to the Houston Texans, and Shaq Thompson has battled an on-again, off-again hamstring injury that has limited to just seven games.
Buffalo did not register a sack against Davis Mills in its loss in Houston on Thursday and posted just four hits on Mills, a backup who was filling in for CJ Stroud. That continues a trend where Buffalo has just one sack in its past three games, going 1-2 in the process.
So signing Lawson is an insurance policy, especially since he and Sean McDermott know each other well. Lawson has 21 sacks, 152 career tackles 11 passes defended and six forced fumbles in a Bills uniform while playing 81 games for them.
Lawson is unlikely to find his 2019 form, where he posted 6.5 sacks and 13 tackles for loss while helping the Bills make the playoffs and earned a three-year contract with the rival Miami Dolphins.
But even if he gets elevated and fills in in a reserve role, Lawson could help Buffalo improve from the 17th-ranked defense in the NFL in points allowed (22.9) and is 13th in yards-against per game (317.1), even though it boasts the NFL’s No. 1 pass defense (168.2 yards-against per game).
The Bills Released Andre Jones Jr. To Make Way For Shaq Lawson
Interestingly, the Bills parted with an EDGE rusher from their practice squad in the corresponding move for Lawson.
They released Andre Jones Jr. to make space for Lawson. Jones had not played a snap for the Bills this season, since he spent the entire season on their practice squad. Jones was a seventh-round pick of the Commanders in the 2023 NFL Draft and has five tackles and three passes defended in 16 career NFL games, all with Washington.
The Bills had plucked Jones from the waiver wire after he was released by the Commanders as part of their final cuts in training camp.
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