Bills' Hardy will join the crowd
The Buffalo Bills' logjam at wide receiver will soon get a little more crowded.
The team is expected to add second-year man James Hardy to the 53-man roster by Wednesday. That's when the 21-day window in which he can practice with the team while still on the reserve/physically unable to perform list ends.
Hardy has been practicing fully since Oct. 21.
"James has done a real nice job," Bills coach Dick Jauron said this week. "We have that 21-day window, and my understanding is that it runs through next Wednesday. So we'll keep looking at it and look at our roster and see what we can do and what we think at that point. We'll run it right up to that time."
Activating Hardy would give the Bills seven healthy wide receivers. The team is having difficulty getting the ball enough to its top two wideouts, much less its reserves.
Hardy is nearly 11 months removed from tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee against the New York Jets on Dec. 14, 2008. He had surgery to correct the injury Jan. 12 after a rookie year in which he recorded nine catches for 87 yards and two touchdowns.
"He's gaining more confidence every day," Jauron said. "He's running routes out there against the defensive backs and competing. He really, really wants it. He really misses it."
At 3-5 this season and with an offense that's ranked 29th in the league, the Bills have little to lose in finding out what they have in Hardy.
"I feel like I did pretty good in practice and now I'm just ready to move forward so I can get back out on the field," Hardy said. "Each and every individual on this team, we just have to do more. We can't point the fingers. We just have to look at each other, and me coming back into this situation, I just want to bring a positive attitude to it and hopefully after the bye week we can get on a little roll."
The past three games, Steve Johnson has been the fourth wideout, Justin Jenkins the fifth and Roscoe Parrish the sixth. Parrish has served as the third quarterback the past two games, but putting him in that role is unnecessary now that Trent Edwards is back.
Parrish is one of the more talented reserves on the team, but his benching the past three weeks from punt-return duties raises the question of whether the Bills might release him to make room for Hardy. The Bills don't have a lot of wiggle room on the roster. The last man at the most crowded position on defense, defensive back, might be recently acquired safety Todd Johnson.
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