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The Buffalo Bills have had a wizard pulling the strings in general manager Brandon Beane since 2017. While there’s positive outlook toward the GM in most cases, he isn’t without his mistakes.
There have been such moves like trading for wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin and it’s not like every draft pick pans out.
But there’s potentially another under-the-radar blemish by Beane that was pointed out by Bleacher Report: The contract he gave to center Mitch Morse ahead of the 2019 season.
B/R recently pegged the worst contract on every NFL roster currently and here’s why Morse’s made the list:
The player: Center Mitch Morse
The contract: Four years, $44.5 million with $26.2 million guaranteed. Expires in 2023.
This is a testament to how wise general manager Brandon Beane has been in his spending. Morse’s contract isn’t awful. If his play were bad enough, the Buffalo Bills could move on from the 28-year-old next season and only incur $5.5 million in dead cap.
This deal makes the list because Morse isn’t playing up to the money he’s earning. He has the second-highest cap hit at his position this season and is scheduled to be sixth next year.
Yet his PFF grade is just 65.6, and he’s the second-most penalized center in the league this year. Again, his contract isn’t a team-killer, but Morse is one of the few players on the Bills making big money right now.
Not awful, but certainly not great. One thing that you really do hate to mention as well with Morse is his injury history. In Week 8, Morse suffered what might be about the fifth concussion of his career. The best ability is availability and sometimes he just doesn’t have that. But on the bright side, Morse is out of the concussion protocol as of Wednesday.
And to PFF’s point, Morse has never really displayed an elite level of talent as Buffalo’s center. While the 2019 unit was better than the awful one in 2018, Buffalo’s offensive line that’s anchored by Morse has never been a top-10 unit in the NFL. Expectations should be that high considering the investments made there.
But if we’re looking for some positives, the Bills might finally have their full starting offensive line for the first time this season against the Cardinals in Week 10. All of the Bills’ up-and-down play in the trenches is certainly not all on Morse… so the help is welcomed.
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