For the third straight week there was a notable roster move made by the Bills. Buffalo activated Shawn Nelson to the 53-man roster, and to make room for him on the squad the club waived OLB Chris Ellis.
"We had to make a decision on Shawn and we felt like he's getting ready to play and so we put him on the roster and we had to make room and Chris Ellis was the guy that we decided to let go," said head coach Chan Gailey.
The Bills were given a one week roster exemption for Nelson, meaning they did not have to add him to the active roster until Monday. Nelson, who is coming off of groin surgery in early September, was limited in practice last week and did not appear ready to return to game action.
Seeing the team struggling to get a win without him has been difficult for Nelson, and he's eager to contribute whatever he can.
"Anytime you see your teammates struggling like that in that way and you're watching it and wishing you could be there and you're itching and craving to get in and make a play," he said. "It's just reminds you of how much you love this game and how much you love your teammates and how much you want to help these guys win."
Nelson has two more weeks to get game ready with the Bills on the bye in Week 6, before their schedule resumes in Week 7 at Baltimore.
Ellis waivedChris Ellis made every effort to make the difficult transition from defensive end to outside linebacker as the Bills shifted from a 4-3 defensive front to a 3-4.
Ellis started the first game of the season in place of the injured Reggie Torbor at the Bills' 'Jack' linebacker position and posted five tackles and his first career sack. He appeared in each of the last four games, but his time on the defensive side of the ball has noticeably decreased of late.
He did not record any defensive statistics in any of the last four games.
"He's a guy that has not played a lot, so you hate to lose anybody, but you have to make decisions," said Gailey. "He did some good things early in camp and then the production just hasn't been there in the early part of the season."
The 72nd overall pick in the 2008 draft, Ellis appeared in 15 games for the Bills in his brief career contributing 13 tackles and a sack in two-plus seasons.
