By Jay Skurski
The Buffalo Bills' eternal quest for pass-rushers once again landed on Shawne Merriman.
The Bills this afternoon announced they've re-signed the veteran defensive end, who was released by the team Aug. 20.
"You can never have too many guys that we believe can rush the passer. With Mark [Anderson] being out and, not only Mark being out, but Spencer [Johnson], who was kind of our swing guy being out, we'd rather not go into a game with just three defensive ends," coach Chan Gailey said in explaining the decision. "And we don't know how long Spencer is going to be, so we're going to sign Shawne back and hopefully he'll give us some pass rush off the edge."
The Bills said Merriman was unavailable to the media today. He was at One Bills Drive earlier in the day and sat in on the defensive line meeting, according to Chris Kelsay.
"It's good to have him back. It's always nice when you can bring a guy back that's acquainted and comfortable with the scheme and the system that we're in," Kelsay said. "He's a guy that's a veteran. He knows how to go about his business. He knows what's expected, so he's going to come right in and pick right up where he left off.
"We aren't doing anything different than what we were doing when he was here. There's a few different blitzes and stuff like that he'll have to learn, but for the most part he can just step right back out there and go forward, and that's what we're expecting out of him."
Merriman played in five games with the Bills last season before a long-troublesome Achilles tendon injury landed him on injured reserve. He had surgery and came to training camp hoping to earn a job as a 4-3 defensive end under new coordinator Dave Wannstedt's scheme. That's a position he had never played before, having previously always been a 3-4 outside linebacker.
Merriman, who was beaten out for a job by Kyle Moore, never seemed to have a problem in a reserve role, despite his big-name recognition.
"Shawne's a great dude. He's a guy that came right in and fit well. Great personality. We don't have a lot of egos on this team," Kelsay said. He fit right in so it's good to have him back. He built some relationships so that was tough. That's a hard part of the business that guys come and go. To have him back, it'll add something to our defense."
To make room for Merriman, the Bills released defensive lineman Jay Ross and offensive lineman David Snow, who's Bills' careers lasted all of one game. Snow and Ross were signed Saturday to the 53-man roster from the practice squad, replacing safety Delano Howell and running back Johnny White.
The Bills currently have one space available on their 53-man roster. (Update: That spot has now been filled by safety Delano Howell.)
