Bills rookie pass rusher Shaq Lawson will be able to play as soon as his stay on the PUP list ends following Week 6, head coach Rex Ryan told reporters, including Joe Buscaglia of WKBW. Per Ryan, Lawson will be “ready to roll.”
[RELATED: Sammy Watkins Likely To Have Second Surgery]
However, Lawson isn’t expected to jump right into a full-time role, according to Buscaglia, who writes that Lawson will likely play as a situational player as he gets acclimated to the NFL. Initially, it was expected that Lawson would miss 4-5 games, but he’ll need some additional time to recover from shoulder surgery. Buffalo took Lawson with the No. 19 overall pick in this year’s draft while many other teams were said to have moved him down their boards due to his ailment.
In his evaluation of the Bills’ rookie class for PFR, scouting consultant Dave-Te Thomas spoke highly of Lawson:
When healthy, Lawson has been a terror – whether in a relief role or during his lone year as a starter. Through his first two seasons, he recorded 79 tackles (47 solos), an impressive figure for relief duties. However, he delivered 23 of those tackles for losses and brought down eleven other opponents for no gains on running plays. He also registered twenty-one third-down stops from 2013- 14 and recorded five touchdown-saving tackles.
Buffalo will get another defender — defensive tackle Marcell Dareus — back even sooner than Lawson, as the Dareus will return in Week 5 after serving a four-game suspension.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.