Tag: mitch morse

State of the position: Bills offensive line

Here is the state of the Buffalo Bills offensive line entering the 2019 offseason.

Here is Bills Wire’s position-by-position breakdown of the team’s roster, continuing with the offensive line, including the season that was and projecting forward:

Buffalo Bills offensive tackle Dion Dawkins. (AP Photo/Mike McCarn)

The Buffalo Bills offensive line underwent a massive transformation between 2018 and 2019. The team brought in several free agents, including center Mitch Morse, interior lineman Spencer Long, guard Quinton Spain, guard Jon Feliciano, tackle Ty Nsekhe, and tackle LaAdraian Waddle. Buffalo added Oklahoma tackle Cody Ford with their 2019 second-round draft pick. They also traded for depth lineman Ryan Bates.

It was quite the turnover, as the team jettisoned center Russell Bodine, center/guard Ryan Groy, guard John Miller, guard Vlad Ducasse, guard Watt Teller, tackle Jordan Mills, tackle Connor McDermott, and tackle Marshall Newhouse.

That’s a lot of movement on the transaction page.

It paid dividends for the Bills, as the line was more cohesive and generally provided better pass protection for quarterback Josh Allen. The only returning starter, left tackle Dion Dawkins, had a solid season defending Allen’s blind side.

Buffalo found absolute steals at the guard positions, as Spain and Feliciano anchored the interior of the line at a combined cap hit of just under $6 million. Mitch Morse, the Bills biggest signing on the offseason, returned from injury and filled the gap left behind by the retirement of Eric Wood in 2017.

The right tackle position was won by the rookie Ford. However, when Ford struggled, the team leaned on Nshkhe to provide a stabilizing force. It worked well as Ford adjusted to the professional game.

Buffalo Bills offensive guard Jon Feliciano. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)

Cap situation

Morse leads the way, with three more years on his contract. This upcoming season, the former Chief will count $11.625 million against the cap. Ford enters the second year of his rookie deal, chiming in at approximately $1.7 million against the books. Depth lineman Ryan Bates is the only other player officially signed beyond the 2020 season.

Dawkins, Nsekhe, and Felicano enter the final year of their respective contracts after the 2020 season. Each player will be an unrestricted free agent. Ike Boettger enters the final year of his contract, but he will be a restricted free agent after next season.

The Bills have a club option on Long. If exercised, it would cost the Bills $4.125 million against the salary cap. If not, the dead cap hit is $700,000.

Spain and Waddle are unrestricted free agents. Spain was a pleasant surprise, helping hold down the interior of the line. Waddle missed the season with a quad injury that he suffered in August.

The future

This unit is very interesting to examine, as there is a strong possibility that four of the returning five starters will be back in their starting role next year. Spain outperformed expectations. He is in line for a pay raise. The question will be: how much will he garner on the open market? If the Bills wish to further develop a starting unit based on consistency, then they will make an offer to keep Spain in the fold.

If they do sign Spain, then they will most likely have three players under contract for the next three seasons (Morse and Ford are the others). Buffalo will then move their focus to Felciano and Dawkins next offseason.

Dawkins is an interesting case, as he could command major money in the open market. Spotrac calculates his market value at $14.3 million. With several major pieces commanding big money in the future (Josh Allen, Matt Milano, Tremaine Edmunds), it will be interesting to see if the Bills dive in and extend Dawkins.

With this in mind, it would not be shocking for the Bills to take an offensive lineman in the draft, even as high as a day two pick. They have Bates and Boettger as depth players, but neither will command starting snaps.

It’s unlikely that the Bills make a big splash this offseason and sign an offensive lineman. They’re pressing their luck if they wish to find another version of Spain–a player who outperforms his contract in the manner that the former Titan did for the Buffalo.

If they’re willing to spend a little more on the interior of the line, Buffalo could take a look at Detroit’s Graham Glasgow. He clocked in as PFF’s 12th best interior offensive lineman in 2019.

In addition, could a draft pick do that same job as Long? Possibly, as Long played over half of the snaps in only three games this year. Buffalo could exercise Long’s option and have him take Spain’s spot. However, Spain’s production might be missed.

If Buffalo is feeling quite adventurous, they could test the offensive tackle market. It’s a long shot, but they could bump Dawkins to guard, and then find a tackle such as Anthony Costonzo, DJ Humphries, or Daryl Williams (former Panther) as options. It’s a long shot, but all scenarios might as well be on the table.

Note: Contract information is made available via Spotrac.

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Evaluating the Bills’ 2019 free agent class

Here is how we evaluated Buffalo’s free agent signings based on their 2019 contribution to the team. 

Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane was aggressive during the 2019 free agency period, signing several players in a hope to bolster a fledgling offensive line. In addition, he inked a few complementary pieces to the defense, while finding players to solidify the special teams unit. 

So, how did it really go for Beane? Looking back at the free agent class signings for the Bills, there were some obvious home runs while others were not-to-stellar. 

Here’s an evaluation of Buffalo’s free agent signings based on their 2019 contribution to the team:

Buffalo Bills wide receiver Cole Beasley. Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

EXCELLENT

Cole Beasley, John Brown, Mitch Morse, and Quinton Spain

It was no surprise that Beane focused on the offensive side of the ball during last year’s free agent period. Several players became an integral part of the Bills’ improvement on offense. 

Buffalo were in need of a massive upgrade at wide receiver, and Beane delivered by signing John Brown and Cole Beasley. It was easy to see that if Josh Allen had a chance at being successful that he would need a much stronger cast surrounding him. The duo combined for 139 receptions and 1,838 receiving yards. Tack on 12 total touchdowns, and it’s easy to see how this pair helped reinvigorate the offense. Brown gave the Bills the closest thing to a No. 1 receiver in the Sean McDermott era, while Beasley provided the team with reliable options out of the slot. When signed, many questioned the Bills’ decision to add them, but no one did by the playoffs. 

Beane’s signings to bolster the offensive line worked well, as Mitch Morse became the foundation of the line. His presence helped solidify the line in a similar manner as Eric Wood. Quinton Spain and Jon Felicano came over to compete for starting gigs at the guard spots, and they exceeded expectations with their play. Felciano gave a physical edge in the run game, while Spain did not allow a sack during the regular season. 

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10 most-expensive Bills against 2020 salary cap

The Buffalo Bills top-10 salary cap hits entering the 2020 season.

The Buffalo Bills face a favorable salary cap situation entering the 2020 offseason. The team is projected to have approximately $89 million in cap space ahead of the free agency period, according to figures from Spotrac.

Buffalo has plenty of room to make a splash signing or two, if they wish. However, with several major contributors still playing on their rookie deals, the Bills may be cautious with how they spend their money this offseason.

For now, let’s take a look at the top-10 players who are eating up the most cap space for the 2020 Bills:

1. Mitch Morse

2020 cap hit: $11.625

Buffalo Bills center Mitch Morse. Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports

The center signed a four-year, $44.5 million contract last offseason. Mitch Morse was the team’s marquee signing last year, brought in to help stabilize and revamp a porous offensive line in 2018.

2. Star Lotulelei

2020 cap hit: $10.1 million

Bills defensive tackle Star Lotulelei. (AP Photo/Michael Ainsworth)

Star Lotulelei was another piece of the Carolina-to-Buffalo pipeline. He signed a five-year, $50 million contract in the 2018 offseason. His familiarity with head coach Sean McDermott’s defensive scheme was a plus when the Bills were looking to strengthen their front-four on defense.

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PODCAST: 2019 Bills season wrap, how did they do?

Buffalo Bills season recap podcast from The Bills Wire.

Josh Allen
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen calls signals at the line of scrimmage in the first half of an NFL football game against the New England Patriots, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2019, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

 

With the 2019 season being over for nearly a week, podcast hosts Matt and Jeremy have had some time to properly reflect on this 2019 season. While the way that it ended was not ideal, and pretty upsetting, it was a good year from an overall perspective.

Despite all of the criticism about strength of schedule, a young roster with growing pains, and a lot of “coulda, woulda, shoulda” moments, Bills fans should look back fondly on the 2019. With a solid coaching staff, whose instilled motto of “Trust the Process” has made considerable gains, and a General Manager who has flipped this roster, nearly 100% from before his reign, all signs point to up.

Josh Allen progressed relatively well in 2019, giving more fuel to the Allen apologists. He showed incredible growth, while still making some rookie mistakes, but importantly, has played well enough to leave no questions if he should continue to be a starter going into the 2020-21 season.

The fortunate aspect for this off season is that Beane and McDermott know have a smaller amount of spokes to replace on the wheel that is the Buffalo Bills, and are able to hone in on the most important needs before free agency and trades open up in a few months.

 

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Bills teammates want Quinton Spain back in 2020: ‘He’s smart as hell’

Buffalo Bills teammates on pending free agent OL Quinton Spain.

Bills offensive lineman Quinton Spain is a pending free agent. He said he’d be willing to come back to the Bills before even testing the market when free agency opens in March.

As fellow players, the Bills locker room hopes to see their teammate get paid. After four years with the Titans, Spain signed a one-year “prove-it deal” with the Bills this past offseason. But they’re hoping it happens in Buffalo.

“We’d love to have him back. He deserves to get paid this offseason. The guy started every game, I don’t know if he missed a snap. A great person to be around, smart as hell, he made this offensive line so much better, helped me out a lot. I owe a lot to Quinton Spain,” center Mitch Morse said via WGR-550 Radio.

Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen echoed Morse, calling Spain someone he could depend upon.

“He’s been awesome for us. Just his mindset, his attitude, the way he plays, he brings a fire. He’s a really good dude, too,” Allen said. “I love him and I wish we’d get him back too. I know it’s the nature of the business. If I had a say, we’d have in back.”

Reflecting upon Spain’s season, there’s no real statistics to fall back on in regard to offensive linemen. But there’s the analytics approach.

There, Spain is at a 50-50 split.

The good? Football Outsiders credited Spain with only allowing one sack this season and only being flagged for a penalty twice in 16 starts. Not bad.

Per Pro Football Focus, the Bills could possible do better. The 28-year-old only earned a 55.9 overall grade this season from PFF’s grading system, good for the 60th best guard in the NFL. His 45.7 run blocking grade isn’t pretty, either.

But there’s also one other factor that could weigh-in on the Bills’ decision with Spain: continuity.

The Bills revamped their offensive line last offseason. It was a far-and-away better group overall than 2018, but in terms of league-wide, the Bills offensive line was likely an average crew. Keeping the group together could pay dividends, though. Another offseason together next summer could help the Bills’ offensive line gel together even further, helping the crew improve. Guard Jon Feliciano touched on that during locker cleanout day as well.

“It would be huge. Whenever you can keep the same core group of guys together… it’s hard to do that, but whenever you can do that, and keep building together, it’d be huge,”

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Bills O-line in middle of pack in PFF’s 2019 rankings

Buffalo Bills offensive line in Pro Football Focus’ end of season 2019 rankings.

The Bills gave their offensive line nearly a complete re-do last offseason. Things were certainly better than 2018, but overall, Pro Football Focus only ranked the new-look line as a middle of the pack unit in the NFL.

In PFF’s final overall offensive line rankings following the 2019 regular season, the Bills clocked in at No. 21.

Here’s how PFF broke down the Bills’ offensive line:

The Bills invested in their offensive line this offseason between free agency and the draft, and we’ve seen improvement from the unit over last season. Those additions along the line, combined with an emphasis on the short passing game and a resulting quicker release from Josh Allen, has lowered the signal-caller’s pressure rate roughly seven percentage points from where it was last season. The Bills’ top pass blocker has been Dion Dawkins with a 76.4 pass-blocking grade.

Overall, Dawkins was the Bills’ best offensive lineman via PFF this season, clocking in at a 73.3 overall mark. That earned him the mark of being their 24 best offensive tackle in the NFL. Aside from Dawkins, no one on Buffalo’s line fell in PFF’s “good” category.

Mitch Morse and John Feliciano, earning grades of 65.9 and 64.1, respectively, were considered “average” by PFF’s grading landscape.

Quinton Spain and Cody Ford landed at 55.8 and 52.4, respectively, very much below average.

The other missing Buffalo lineman is Ty Nsekhe, who landed with a solid grade of 67.3.

Moving forward, the Bills might make a lone change or two, but don’t expect a massive overhaul again from the Bills again this offseason. While Buffalo has cap space or draft picks to add to their line, it’s a safer bet that the Bills coaching staff will give this group another year to gel and build on their first season together in 2019. Spain is a free agent, though.

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Bills offensive line recognizes test ahead in Steelers

Buffalo Bills C Mitch Morse, OL Quinton Spain, coach Sean McDermott on Pittsburgh Steelers defense.

The Bills offensive line struggled against the Baltimore Ravens last week. Upcoming in Week 15, an even bigger test might be awaiting in the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen was hit 12 times, sacked six times, and the Ravens had 12 total tackles for loss. With all those numbers in mind, here’s another: The Steelers have 48 sacks, the most in the NFL. That could be a problem.

Reflecting back on Wednesday, Bills center Mitch Morse said the type of game the Bills played last week is the type that causes some self-reflection.

“I think there’s definitely some good parts to the game, but you can’t let that clout what we have to work on,” Morse told reporters. “It’s always easier to find excuses outside of yourself for things that go array. You’ve got to look internally and there’s a lot that I can work on and learn on.”

Buffalo has a lot to work on looking at the film from Sunday against Baltimore. But lineman Quinton Spain things there’s a bit of a formula that might work well for the Steelers.

Spain said the Bills need to establish a running game early, which will then allow the Bills to open things up offensively.

“We’ve got to establish the run, that’s going to open up the passing protection,” Spain said. “We’ve got to do our job. They call the play, five man, six man, seven man protection, eight man protection, we just have got to hold up and let Josh (Allen) do what he’s got to do.”

That being said, it’s much easier said than done. Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott knows that and said the Steelers will certainly have looked at the tape from last week.

“It’s a copycat league and we try and respect that as well, and make sure that we are dotting our I’s and crossing our T’s as relates to some of the challenges that we faced,” McDermott said. “We’ve got to make sure that we continue to grow specific to what happened [against the Ravens].”

And as mentioned, it’s not going to be easy by any stretch against the likes of TJ Watt, Bud Depree and the rest of the Steelers’ strong front-seven.

“They got great guys up there. They got Pro Bowlers, they’ve got All-Pros in that front-seven,” Spain said. “We’ve got to do our job a dominate the game.”

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What we learned from Bills’ Week 12 win over Broncos

What We Learned, Buffalo Bills vs. Denver Broncos, NFL Week 12

The Buffalo Bills find themselves in unfamiliar territory heading into Thanksgiving: comfortably in a playoff position with one of the best records the AFC.

The Bills improved to 8-3 for the first time since 1996, Jim Kelly’s final season with the team, with a workman-like 20-3 victory over the Denver Broncos. It took a while for the Bills’ offense to get going, but once they did they were able to pull away from a Denver team that never seriously threatened Buffalo in this game. The Bills racked up over 240 yards rushing and Josh Allen tossed a pair of touchdown passes, including a 34-yard rainbow to John Brown that should satisfy fans who have been calling for Allen to deliver on a deep ball.

Meanwhile, the Buffalo defense was dominant, holding Denver to just nine first downs and 134 total yards. Young Broncos’ signal caller Brandon Allen tallied just 82 passing yards on 25 attempts. The Bills also sacked him four times, and the yardage from those sacks brought Denver down to just 49 net passing yards for the day. The run defense also held Phillip Lindsay and company to just 85 yards on the ground.

There was little to criticize from a complete effort from this Bills’ team as they find themselves in strong position heading into the final stretch of the regular season. The schedule does get considerably tougher beginning on Thanksgiving Day Thursday in Dallas.

Here are four things we learned as the Bills won for the second week in a row to continue their playoff push:

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Mitch Morse exits Bills game vs. Broncos

Buffalo Bills center Mitch Morse is questionable to return to his team’s meeting with the Denver Broncos. Morse suffered a finger injury. 

Buffalo Bills center Mitch Morse is questionable to return to his team’s meeting with the Denver Broncos. Morse suffered a finger injury.

Morse exited the game and guard Jon Feliciano is in at center with the first-team offense.

Spencer Long replaced Feliciano at guard.

On the drive Morse left, the Bills earned a field goal to take a 6-0 lead. Kicker Stephen Hauschka converted from 23 yards for the score.

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