Shawne Merriman brought in to help Bills pass rush: Fantasy implications

The Buffalo Bills brought in Mark Anderson from the Patriots in the off-season to help with their pass rush, but he's had just a single sack in six games and is now out indefinitely with a knee injury. So the Bills brought back a familiar face, linebacker Shawne Merriman, to help as an additional pass-rusher in second-and-long and third-downs, according to head coach Chan Gailey.

There could be an issue with that theory, however, since Merriman hasn't been an effective pass rusher since 2007. After recording 39.5 sacks in his first three seasons with the Chargers, Merriman has five sacks in the last four years. Merriman had one sack in five games for Buffalo in 2011.

Fantasy Take: Merriman was a production monster when he started out in San Diego, but injuries have contributed to derailing his career since missing nearly the entire 2008 season. At this point, as Gailey basically said, Merriman is only a part-time player and he hasn't even proven he can do that effectively.

It seems like at best, Merriman could grab a few sacks over the course of the season and have minimal effect on a defense that has been pretty terrible so far.

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