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With a roster as impressive as the one the Buffalo Bills have, it’s hard to pin point a “best-kept secret” on it.
Bleacher Report tried nonetheless. The selection was second-year offensive tackle Spencer Brown.
Brown entered the fold on Buffalo’s offensive line after sitting out the first few games of the 2021 season. He quickly became a fan favorite following his on-field celebrations, which involved a fan’s beer on one occasion.
Brown impressed and as a young player on the offensive line, it is true: He is a bit overlooked as B/R suggests. But that doesn’t mean Brown can’t improve, his youth even suggests he very well could in 2022, which even further puts him in a “secret” territory as suggested.
Specifically, Brown should look to improve his pass blocking. Pro Football Focus graded Brown a 74.9 mark as a run blocker, but in pass protection his grade dropped to 51.0.
Naturally, quarterback Josh Allen would approve of that.
Check out what B/R wrote on Brown below:
The Buffalo Bills may well have the most loaded roster from 1-53 in the entire NFL. It’s a roster dotted with first-round picks on both sides of the ball. But one of the most important players in Buffalo’s offensive line was a Day 2 pick who was drafted more as a project than an immediate impact player.
Things didn’t go as planned for the Bills last year up front—after Cody Ford struggled at right guard, the team was forced to move Daryl Williams inside and insert that Day 2 rookie at right tackle. And as Sean Murphy and Matt Warren wrote for Buffalo Rumblings, once Spencer Brown hit the field, it didn’t take long for the team to realize it had something.
“He brings a certain nastiness to the line that guard Jon Feliciano brought, only with more consistent and effective blocking to boot,” they said. “For a while there, it looked like Brown was the linchpin to the entire offensive line, as the Bills’ protection definitely improved once he began to play.”
Brown admittedly wasn’t flawless, and he missed several games because of injury and a stint on the COVID-19 list. But all told, the small-school standout from Northern Iowa played better than most expected, and with a full offseason under his belt entrenched as a starter, Brown should be that much better in 2022.
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