With tight ends Robert Royal out for Sunday's game and Derek Schouman questionable, Buffalo's coaching staff did not want to get caught short handed at the position against the 49ers and thus promoted practice squad tight end Jonathan Stupar to the 53-man roster.
To create a roster spot Buffalo placed defensive tackle John McCargo on injured reserve with a lingering back injury. McCargo was added to the Bills injury report Friday after he did not practice.
"With John it's been kind of gradually bothering him more and the more we talked about it with him we just thought it was aggravating him enough that we needed to get him out," said head coach Dick Jauron.
McCargo has not been much of a contributor all season, and after the failed trade with Indianapolis last month, returning to the roster was likely awkward for him. The defensive tackle has been inactive three of the past four weeks and has only three assisted tackles this season in limited action.
Stupar (6'3", 254) was signed to the Bills practice squad back on Sept. 1 and has remained there throughout the course of the season.
The former undrafted rookie free agent out of Virginia originally signed with New England back in May.
Both Royal and Schouman are battling hamstring injuries. Royal suffered his hamstring injury in last week's game against the Chiefs.
Schouman practiced fully on Wednesday, but was limited on Thursday and Friday in practice due to a hamstring strain. He's expected to be a game time decision on Sunday.
The only other healthy tight end on the roster besides Stupar is fellow rookie Derek Fine.
