With the tight end position the latest victim of the injury bug, Buffalo filled the void by re-signing Brad Cieslak, who was with the club during training camp.
The Bills lost rookie Derek Schouman to a severe ankle injury suffered in the Cincinnati game two weeks ago. He was placed on injured reserve last Thursday. That same day tight end Matt Murphy went down with a torn calf muscle in practice.
Meanwhile Cieslak has spent most of this season in airports as he has had tryouts with several NFL clubs in an effort to latch onto a roster.
"I've had about seven tryouts and I've been flying all over the country," said Cieslak. "It was an interesting time managing how to stay in shape and strong and have good workouts for other teams. It will be interesting getting out there and running around in practice tomorrow and seeing what that's like."
A former undrafted free agent signee of the Bills in 2005, Cieslak spent most of his first two NFL seasons on Buffalo's practice squad. He was called up to the active roster last season on Nov. 17 and appeared in four of the team's last seven games recording six catches for 46 yards. Cieslak also served on special teams.
His familiarity with the organization should allow Cieslak to jump right back in quickly.
"It's nice to know the offense and the scheme," he said. "I'm just getting a little refresher course. I have a lot of friends on the team and I know the coaching staff well."
At 6'3" 252 pounds, Cieslak was one of the tight ends being utilized in the fullback position through the offseason and training camp along with veteran Ryan Neufeld and Schouman. But he might see more time up on the line this week.
"It's looking right now like a little more tight end stuff right now," said Cieslak. "I'm pretty much going to do whatever they ask me to do. I'm not 100 percent sure, but I'm guessing some more tight end stuff."
Fortunately for Cieslak not too much has changed with the offensive scheme since he left.
"There are new nuances here and there and a couple of things that are different," said Cieslak. "I know the formations. I know the shifts and I think that was the hardest part of getting to know the offense, so because I have a grasp on that I should be able to pick everything up quickly."
