Bills' offensive line depth a strength, not a weakness

The Buffalo Bills offensive line is elite, but what about the depth behind the starting five?

Rich Barnes-Imagn Images

It wasn't that long ago that Buffalo Bills' general manager Brandon Beane signed an offensive line free agent tackle named Ty Nsekhe and drafted a lineman named Cody Ford.

In 2019, Ford was swapped between guard and tackle while Nsekhe was the swing tackle, and sometimes started next to Ford. It's a far cry from the current state of Buffalo's offensive line.

The Bills' line was below average at best only a few years back, but since then, Beane has found the perfect bookend tackles in Dion Dawkins and Spencer Brown. He discovered that free agent signee Connor McGovern can play center at a high level. The Bills added guard O'Cyrus Torrence through the draft and picked up guard David Edwards in free agency along the way. The result is one of the best offensive lines we've seen with the Bills since the Super Bowl days in the early 1990s.

offensive tackle Dion Dawkins | Shawn Dowd/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Bills' offensive line was ranked third by Pro Football Focus. It's an unquestioned strength of the team.

Though there are some questions surrounding the depth of the Bills' line, according to Sports Illustrated's Senior Writer, Albert Breer.

"The offensive line returns pretty much everyone, backups included. But if there’s an area where the Bills might look to add depth, this is it." said Breer. "And that underscores the limited number of loose ends for the Bills."

offensive linemen Ryan Van Demark | Shawn Dowd/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

From the sound of his writing here, Breer isn't necessarily calling the Bills' offensive line depth a concern, but on a Super Bowl-contending roster, the offensive line depth might be the weakest area. Regardless of what Breer was trying to say, the depth is far from an issue, and the real concern lies with depth at linebacker, but that discussion is for another day.

As Breer points out, the Bills are returning not just the starting five, but the backups too, some of whom could start on other teams, such as Ryan Ven Demark and Alec Anderson.

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There is also the expectation that second-year center/guard Sedrick Van Pran-Granger will take over at center eventually and has the versatility to play guard as well. The Bills also added 2024 draft pick, tackle Tylan Grable, who the team loves.

offensive lineman Sedrick Van Pran-Granger | Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

The Bills' offensive line depth is not a weakness of the roster by any stretch. The starting five are some of the best in the league, so to expect there not to be a drop-off should one of them miss time would be ridiculous, but the Bills' offense would still function just fine if that happens.

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