Bills shuffle TEs as they deal with injuries

Bills Training Camp - The injury bug that plagued the Buffalo Bills in 2009 is still around.  The team did some roster shuffling Monday, after getting hard by injury at the tight end spot the last few days.

Veteran Michael Matthews was waived/injured Monday afternoon.  And the team signed veteran TE J.P. Foschi to take his place.

Matthews was injured in practice Sunday night at St. John Fisher. And Head Coach Chan Gailey says the team could not wait for him to get better.

"Yeah, that's what it was," Gailey said.  "It was too extensive to fee like we could afford to hold onto it for too long."

Foschi is a four year NFL veteran who played with the Cincinnati Bengals last year.  He caught 27 passes for the Bengals, two of them for touchdowns.  He's also spent time in the NFL with the Raiders and the Chiefs, starting 15 of the 33-games he's played in over a four year span.

Foschi played for Gailey at Georgia Tech, and again two years ago, with the Kansas City Chiefs. 

"This will be the third go-around with his offense," Foschi said after practice Monday, "from college, then Kansas City, now here.  So I'm familiar with the terminology.  The plays are coming back to memory.  I feel comfortable."

Gailey says the Bills will still have to add another tight end to the roster in the next few days, with Foschi and Jonathan Stupar the only healthy players at the position.  He also said first year OT Nick Hennessey could wind up getting snaps at tight end while the Bills are in this bind.

The club also released backup DB John Destin Monday afternoon.

On the subject of quarterbacks, the open competition is still on, according to Gailey, even though Trent Edwards gets the majority of the practice snaps, and has started the first two preseason games.    Gailey says he'll wait as long as it takes, before he anoints a starter.

"If we says it's open, we've got to let it play out," Gailey says.  "I wish we could do it today, it would be easier on everybody.  We're still looking at every option that's available and every direction that we want to go.  I think as long as we have that openness about it, then we're going to make a good decision--even if it doesn't come until the week of the first game."

The Bills finish their training camp Tuesday morning, with a 9:45 AM workout.  It is free and open to the public at St. John Fisher College.