Buffalo’s offensive line still looks weak

By Connor Byrne  |   Thursday, March 30, 2006  |  Comments( 1 )

Buffalo Bills
Got something to say?

Log In above and share your thoughts on this topic with other fans!
This year's free agency period has seen its fair share of disappointment in terms of upgrading a suspect Buffalo Bills offensive line. Although the Bills have tried to repair the problem areas of their line, they have failed at solidifying it completely.

First, Buffalo attempted to sign Arizona Cardinals restricted free agent guard Reggie Wells, but his rich contract offer from the Bills of $17.6 million over five years with $5 million in bonus money was matched by Arizona. At just 25 years old, Wells would have made a formidable left guard for the Bills, but their efforts ended up going for naught. By now, Wells should have sent Bills GM Marv Levy a copious gift-basket for essentially giving him a massive deal, rather than the one-year tender the Cardinals originally gave him.

Once the Wells deal fell through, the Bills brought in solid New England Patriots guard Steve Neal for a visit to the team's facilities in western New York. The Bills never made Neal a solid contract offer and days later, he elected to re-sign with the Patriots.

After failing to sign Wells and Neal, the Bills still find themselves stuck with Bennie Anderson at the left guard position. Given the way Anderson performed last season, that should undoubtedly be a scary thought for the Bills. However, Buffalo can't in good conscience go into the 2006 season with Anderson at left guard; they'll have no choice but to pursue a guard in the second or third-round of the draft, such as Oklahoma's Davin Joseph, Pittsburgh's Charles Spencer or USC's Duce Lutui. If Buffalo doesn't want to go that route, they have second-year man Duke Preston, who might be able to step in for Anderson because the Illinois grad has a large amount of upside. In limited duty last season, Preston was impressive at center and guard.

To address their second position of need on the line--center--the Bills signed Minnesota Vikings backup Melvin Fowler to a three-year deal worth $7.2 million. That's a pretty good chunk of change to pay a guy who has never been much more than a reserve in his four-year career with the Cleveland Browns and Vikings. The only reason Fowler got any playing time in Minnesota last year was because of the fact that Pro Bowl center Matt Birk was down all of last season with a hip injury. One has to wonder if Fowler is even an upgrade over the Bills' previous center, unrestricted free agent Trey Teague. Over the last five seasons, Teague has started in 80 consecutive games. Although he wasn't by any means a great player in Buffalo, Teague was above-average and had great durability. In spite of that, Levy felt that the best move would be to bring in Fowler to be the offensive line's signal-caller. It's a risky move, but the Bills are banking on it working out in their favor.

At the right guard position, Buffalo elected to stand pat this free agency season. Chris Villarial, a reliable 32-year-old veteran, has started in all 31 games he's appeared in with the Bills over the last two seasons. Villarial has been known to take some costly penalties from time to time, but it wasn't at all worthwhile for Buffalo to find his replacement just yet. Although he's currently the elder statesman of a young Bills line, Villarial still has a couple of years of above-average football left in his tank.

As far as the left tackle position goes, the Bills did virtually nothing this offseason to try and upgrade it. However, that may be for the best as Mike Gandy started all 16 games last season and did an adequate job. 2005 was Gandy's first season in Buffalo, and he ended up as somewhat of a pleasant surprise. Basically, Gandy's the type of player capable of starting a full season, while not making crucial mistakes.

Without question, the Bills' right tackle, Jason Peters, is the most talented offensive lineman on the roster. Amazingly, the 24-year-old Peters slipped through the cracks of the 2004 draft and was signed by Buffalo afterward as an undrafted free agent. Why? Because Peters didn't have a definitive position coming out of Arkansas; at 6'4", 328 pounds, many thought Peters could play his original college position of tight end at the NFL level, but after running a 4.9 at the combine, many viewed him as a player with potential to be a fast offensive lineman. After stepping in for 2001's fourth-overall draft pick, Mike Williams, at right tackle midway through last season, Peters managed to impress offensive line coach Jim McNally with his 10 solid starts. Peters rarely gave up a sack or took a penalty, so he's a breath of fresh air for a Bills line that has been looking for a bookend tackle since the days of John Fina in the late '90s. Expect this youngster with left tackle potential to continue improving.

At three of the Bills' offensive line positions, they have solid players who know each other, so a nice amount of continuity will be established. Conversely, the center and left guard positions are both major question marks, and should be a concern to whoever ends up at the quarterback position for the Buffalo Bills next season. As for Levy, he better hope his new offensive line philosophy doesn't prove to be a major failure in his inaugural season as the new leader of the front-office.

--Connor Byrne can be reached at cbyrne@realfootball365.com
Got something to say?

Log In above and share your thoughts on this topic with other fans! (1)

About Connor Byrne

Sorry, Connor Byrne's bio is currently not available. Please check back soon!
read more
Article Tools Share!   |  RSS  |  Bleacher Report About Bleacher Report