Buffalo Bills re-sign free agent linebacker Shawne Merriman – NFL News
Buffalo Bills (3-3) have reacquired services of linebacker Shawne Merriman after re-signing him on Monday, October 15, 2012.
Merriman had a workout with Bills on Monday morning. The Bills announced later on the same day that a deal had been struck.
The Bills desperately needed some reinforcement in the defensive line where they are currently very thin due to injuries.
Bills played without two of their starters in the defensive team during Week 6 victory against Arizona Cardinals.
Defensive end Spencer Johnson, who is out with an ankle injury, has not played in the Bills’ last two games. Meanwhile, defensive end Mark Anderson is out for an indefinite period, recovering from a knee injury. According to the Associated Press, Bills head
coach Chan Gailey said:
“You can never have too many guys that we believe can rush the passer. With Mark being out and Spencer (Johnson), who was kind of our swing guy being out we can’t go into a game with just three defensive ends. So we signed Shawne back and hopefully he gives
us some pass rush off the edge.”
The linebacker was released in August this year. The reason behind Bills’ decision to release Merriman was that they had a good number of young players, who could be future stars.
Merriman signed a two-year, $10.5 million deal in January 2011. The deal included $5 million guaranteed money, out of which $3 million was for the 2012 season. Bills had to pay the entire sum to release the three-time Pro Bowler.
It will be interesting to see how Merriman performs. He has not played a good number of games during the last two seasons and has remained injured most of the time since the 2008 season.
It is likely that Merriman will spend most of his time on the bench when all the injured players of the defensive line return to full fitness.
Merriman is an eight-year veteran and will not have much difficulty in learning the Bills defensive scheme. Bills know that he is not a long-term solution to their worries, but he is a good addition considering the current circumstances.
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