The Buffalo Bills beat the deadline by a full day in trimming their roster to 75 players.

The team had until 4 p.m. today to trim three players from its roster, but announced Monday the release of offensive tackle Kyle Calloway, nose tackle Lonnie Harvey and wide receiver Aaron Rhea.

Calloway was the team's final draft choice in April, the second of two seventh-round picks. The Iowa product played as the third-string right tackle throughout training camp, behind Cornell Green and Kirk Chambers.

Harvey spent the last half of the 2009 season on the Bills' practice squad after entering the NFL as an undrafted rookie with Carolina earlier that year.

Rhea just signed with the Bills on Aug. 16 after a rash of injuries at wide receiver.

The Bills must trim their roster to 53 players by 6 p.m. Saturday, following Thursday night's preseason finale in Detroit.

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Running back Marshawn Lynch looks ready to return from the ankle injury that's kept him out since the preseason opener Aug. 13 at Washington.

Lynch was able to take part in conditioning drills following Monday's walk-through practice, and coach Chan Gailey said he planned on using him against the Lions.

"He did running afterwards and kept up with everybody else, which is important, but we'll know a lot more [today] when we have a real practice," the coach said.

Lynch had been targeting the Sept. 12 season opener against Miami as his return date.

"That was my goal," he said. "I feel pretty confident in getting there."

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The race for the No. 2 quarterback job behind Trent Edwards will come down to the final preseason game.

Gailey said Monday he plans on giving Brian Brohm more playing time against Detroit. Brohm played just eight snaps Saturday against Cincinnati and threw just one pass, which fell incomplete.

"We were trying to get him in there and [the Bengals] kept the ball for a little bit longer than we thought they might. We're going to try to make sure this week that we get his numbers up in this ball game," Gailey said.

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Another top tailgating list is out and, not surprisingly, the Bills are on it.

On its Web site, Forbes Magazine picked the top-10 tailgating cities in the NFL.

"Buffalo always ranks high on the tailgating roster, partly because of the city's incredibly long tradition of tailgating, but also because it offers the greatest variety of parking space for doing so," reads the Forbes' explanation, in part.

While the list may be in alphabetical order, that hasn't stopped some bloggers to claim the Bills are No. 1.

Buffalo, after all, does appear first on the list.

jskurski@buffnews.comnull