Bills offensive line: Tricky offseason ahead
Being able to run the ball more often and with better efficiency, which is perhaps the Bills' top priority for 2021, starts with having an offensive line they can trust.
That issue will become infinitely more complicated if two of their starters from a line that helped them become the second most proficient offense in the NFL depart in free agency.
Right tackle Daryl Williams and guard Jon Feliciano, who brings the added benefit of being able to play center, have expiring contracts and stand to get paid one way or another.
So will center Mitch Morse, who is due to count $10.3 million against the salary cap unless the Bills trade or release him with a post-June 1 designation. Then he would count only for the dead money hit of $2.75 million -- a substantial savings for a team that's in poor cap health.
The only question is whether the Bills will be writing those checks.
They probably should be, because even though they have draft and free agency options at guard and can turn back to valued starter Cody Ford, who had started at right tackle and both guard spots before landing on injured reserve with a torn meniscus midway through last season, depth would then be an issue.
The added depth they had in 2020 proved crucial, with Feliciano being able to switch from guard to center at a moment's notice when Morse went out with a concussion against New England. The Bills also didn't miss a beat when they lost Ford for the season.
So if they try, say, moving on from Morse and Williams, re-signing Feliciano (which is expected) and making him the fulltime center and moving Ford back to right tackle, his original spot as a rookie in 2019, they would still have an opening at guard with nothing but question marks heading to the draft about how to fill.
They likely wouldn't even be able to turn back to veteran guard Brian Winters, who lost his starting job to Ike Boettger in December, because Winters also is about to become an unrestricted free agent.
After 2020, the Bills should know as well as anyone what the value of a deep offensive line is and spare little expense in trying to bolster it rather than taking a chance that everything will work out the best possible way.
Left tackle Dion Dawkins recently pounded the table on Twitter for former teammate Richie Incognito, now a free agent.
But even though Incognito has undeniable talent and made the Pro Bowl three years in a row with the Bills from 2015 through 2017, he'll turn 38 in July and has a history of behavioral issues.
The Bills need to build with young, emerging talent, starting with some players they've already spent a good deal of effort developing to play in their system.
They can perhaps go cheap in other areas. But when it comes to running the ball better and protecting a franchise quarterback in Josh Allen who finished second in the NFL MVP voting, they need to make more of an investment than they did in 2020, not less.
Nick Fierro is the publisher of Bills Central. Check out the latest Bills news at www.si.com/nfl/bills and follow Fierro on Twitter at @NickFierro.
