The competition at left guard has come to a close. The Bills brought an unceremonious end to the competition with the release of Colin Brown Tuesday.
Brown, who started each of the Bills first five games, struggled mightily at times in his first year as a starter. He surrendered pressures, hits and sacks on the quarterback with a frequency that re-opened the left guard job that he had won in training camp once Doug Legursky was healthy enough to play.
Legursky will now step in as the full time starter after starting and getting the lion's share of the work last week against Cincinnati. The four-year veteran got 83 percent of the snaps at left guard logging a total of 57 plays Sunday to Brown's half dozen.
"Doug did a nice job in there for just coming back," said head coach Doug Marrone Monday. "Colin has struggled before, and we did play Doug much more than we did Colin."
Taking Brown's spot on the 53-man roster was OL Mark Asper, who was called up from the team's practice squad Tuesday. Asper has spent the first six weeks of the season on the team's Practice Squad after re-joining the team on September 1. The 6-7, 325-pound Oregon product entered the NFL as a sixth-round (178th overall) draft choice of Buffalo in 2012. He spent portions of his rookie season on the 53-man rosters of the Minnesota Vikings and the Jacksonville Jaguars. He will wear No. 62.
The Bills also announced that the team has signed OL Bryant Browning and LB Jacquies Smith to the Practice Squad and released DE Jamie Blatnick.
Browning entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent with the St. Louis Rams in 2011 and spent his rookie year with the Carolina Panthers. He spent the 2012 season on the Practice Squads of Carolina and the Cleveland Browns and the 2013 training camp with the New York Giants. The 6-4, 325-pound Ohio State product played in 52 games (40 starts) for the Buckeyes.
Smith entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent with the Miami Dolphins in 2012 and was released prior to the regular season. He spent a portion of his rookie season on the Practice Squad of the New York Jets and was released by the club prior to the 2013 regular season. The 6-2, 260-pound Missouri product started 30-of-51 games for the Tigers and totaled 159 tackles, 13.0 sacks and eight forced fumbles.
