Brandon Spikes is back with the Bills. (Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY) Sports
Spikes, 28, last played in the NFL for the Bills in 2014. He was set to rejoin the New England Patriots in 2015 but was released last June as police investigated his role in a hit-and-run crash in Massachusetts. Spikes later pleaded guilty to multiple motor vehicle charges and received probation.
The NFL suspended Spikes for the first four games of the 2015 regular season but he spent the year out of football.
Buffalo also signed former Seattle and New Orleans linebacker David Hawthorne to an undisclosed contract. The 31-year-old Hawthorne spent his first four seasons with the Seahawks and last four with the Saints and has 12 career sacks and eight interceptions in 111 games (83 starts).
As for the 6-foot-2, 255-pound Spikes, he originally entered the NFL as a second-round draft pick by the Patriots out of Florida in 2010.
Spikes has played in 67 games and has registered 340 tackles, two sacks, two interceptions, six forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and 16 passes defensed.
Spikes signed with the Bills in 2014 and played in all 16 games with 10 starts. He tallied 54 tackles, one sack, one forced fumble and three passes defensed for Buffalo while serving as a team captain.
Spikes’ signing comes after linebacker Reggie Ragland, the Bills’ second-round pick in the 2016 draft, injured his knee in Friday’s practice.
“I’m not real sure (about ligament damage),” Ryan said Saturday of Ragland’s injury. “I guess I was just so hopeful there’s not going to be ligament things. My understanding is that as you get going, your leg is so tight, they’ll fight it. You don’t really get a true look of that. So as we mentioned, we got to wait for that swelling to go down. I know every Bill fan out there is hoping for the best, and that’s certainly what we’re doing, but there is concern.”
