Bills rookie defensive end Shaq Lawson, the 19th pick in the 2016 NFL draft, began practicing Wednesday after coming off the physically-unable-to-perform list.
Lawson had shoulder surgery during the offseason, which scrapped the Bills’ plans to make him a Day 1 starter. But he could start playing next week at home against the Patriots, according to the Bills’ website. He probably won’t start, instead slowly working his way into the rotation.
Lorenzo Alexander, a 33-year-old journeyman with nine career sacks going into this season, leads the NFL with eight sacks and has afforded the Bills the luxury of keeping the training wheels on Lawson.
“It’s going to feel better to know that I’m 100 percent,” said Lawson, who played through his shoulder injury at Clemson but still had 12.5 sacks and 24.5 tackles for loss last season.
The Bills (4-2) are second in the NFL with 20 sacks and have a chance to pick up a couple of key division wins when they go to Miami Sunday and host the Patriots next week. If they beat the Patriots, it would be their first season sweep of New England since the last year they made the playoffs, 1999.
And there’s a chance Lawson could help the Bills do those two things they haven’t done since 1999.
[NFL.com]Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
