How good can Buffalo Bills offensive line be in 2024 for Josh Allen after outstanding 2023 campaign

How good can Buffalo Bills offensive line be in 2024 for Josh Allen after outstanding 2023 campaign

how good can this Buffalo Bills offensive line be in front of Josh Allen in 2024 I’m exploring all of those Dynamics today on lock on [Music] bills you are locked on bills your daily Buffalo Bills podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day what’s up bills Mafia it’s Joe Marino author of go bills and Buffalo’s run also the co-host of the locked on NFL scouting podcast and I’m your host of lockon bills want to thank you for making lockon bills your first listen every day and a big welcome and shout out to our every dayers you know who you are those of you who never miss a single episode I appreciate y’all being here very very much I’d also like to invite you to subscribe or follow for free on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts we’re part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on NFL for $20 off your first purchase terms apply well folks welcome in I want to have an offensive line discussion here today on the podcast and really explore the Dynamics for this unit entering the season and so we’re going to get into all of it a loaded podcast for you here today so let’s just jump right in I want to begin this conversation by talking about what excites me about this unit and I start that conversation by pointing back to 2023 this was a good offensive line and I want to give you a couple metrics here that support my claim that this was a very good offensive line the first one comes courtesy of the fantasy points data Suite last season the Bills offensive line generated 2.07 adjusted yards before contact per rushing attempt third highest in the NFL so before a Buffalo Bills ball carrier was touched they already gained over two yards third highest in the NFL and I love that fantasy points breaks this down as adjusted yards before contact because that removes scrambles that removes trick plays it removes quarterback kns and quarterback sneaks it is a true number only five teams last year averaged above two yards before contact the Ravens Eagles bills Bears and Dolphins I’ll give you another number here so run blocking cool that’s great what about pass blocking super good there as well and pff’s pass blocking efficiency metric which measures pressure allowed on a pnap basis with waiting towards sacks allowed the Bill’s pass blocking efficiency was 86.4 fifth best in the NFL the Bill’s offensive line allowed 13 sacks fewest in the NFL that’s sacks charged to the offensive line it was their fault and how about this one 73.7% of the pressure Josh Allen faced in 2023 was due to the offensive line third lowest percentage in the NFL so if you want to poo poo on my pass blocking numbers here because you say that josh Allen avoids pressure and doesn’t let pressure turn into sacks well how about those apples the third lowest percentage of pressure that he faced of any quarterback in the NFL was actually the F fault of the offensive line the unit was really good it took a major step forward last season and I think you ask yourself why and certainly there’s a lot to point to in terms of the players they had but how about the coaching Aaron chromer in his second season you saw a notable growth and that’s what gets me very excited about 2024 is it’s year three of Aaron chromer who’s an exceptional offensive line coach an unbelievable resme one of the best position coaches of our era football and he’s heavily involved with scheming the Run game scheming protection schemes and of course working one-on-one with these offensive linemen and you see a guy like Dion Dawkins at left tackle who’s playing the best football of his career under Aaron chromer he’s entering his age3 season has made the last three Pro bowls and Deon Dawkins is a complete football player he has everything length athleticism power personality leaders ship right last couple years he’s been the bills Walter Payton Man of the Year Award winner I mean he’s a dude he’s entering his eighth season as the bill starter and he just signed a three-year extension that keeps him in Buffalo through 2027 he’s a Cornerstone player you can see the improvements that he’s made with Aaron chromer now he gets a third season how about Spencer Brown at right tackle we saw the big leap the big leap that so many were hoping for so many doubted would happen happened in his second season with Aaron chromer and there’s so much to like about Spencer Brown as you project him to the Future given the tools right all the size and athleticism you could ever dream of in in an offensive tackle he’s got it and he’s clearly an ascending player that entered the NFL with only two years of experience playing offensive line and he did it at the FCS level now he’s entering his age 26 season in a contract year now if there’s something that makes me pump the breaks just a little bit with Spencer Brown It’s that he once again can’t have a normal off season because he had an injury he uh had a shoulder injury early in that Chief’s playoff game he played through it but has had a surgery and that’s really taken away from his normal offseason routine so that’s a little bit concerning but I’m hopeful that Spencer Brown can build off of his breakout season from 2023 and then I’ll point out one more player just as you kind of look at this through that Aaron chromer lens and the opportunity to continue working with him it’s Osiris Torrance Osiris torren a 2023 second round pick did a lot as a rookie and I think that starts with beating out Ryan Bates you know the bills don’t hand anybody anything and they paid Ryan Bates a decent contract extension to stick in Buffalo they draft Osirus torren he beats him out as a rookie played every single snap every single offensive snap and did he have some highs and lows sure yeah he’s a rookie and you felt like some of the pass protection issues definitely happened down the stretch but take a step back and just assess the entire season the guy was really good as a rookie 24 years old and I think the step forward that he could take from year one to year to is going to be very significant I look at him and I look at Dalton concade as impact rookies that I think can take a step forward in year two and I think in the in the case of Osiris Torrance I think it’s how his offseason is going to set up I always talk about that rookie year off season how weird it is and how taxing it is on these guys then they have to play just an extremely high amount of snaps compared to any other year of their football career and they’re doing it in the NFL against the best players in the world it’s a big deal I think not only will will Osiris Torrance be better equipped for his second season because he’s played a year but now he gets to spend his off season focusing on being the right guard for the Buffalo Bills not focusing on how to run a short shuttle drill and how to interview and you know flying all across the country doing workouts no it’s just hey going to be the right right guard for the Buffalo Bills what do I need to do this offseason to prepare for that I think the step forward could be really significant and again some highs and lows as a rookie but the overall picture is is pretty good as it relates to Osiris Torrance what he did and that forecast moving forward so there’s a lot to be excited about that’s just kind of the start of the conversation with how good they were last year Aaron Kromer and and the coach that he is and more time with this group you know and Aaron Cromer is the type of offensive line coach that’s going to who and he he says this out loud it’s not something I’m making up I mean he says look I tailor how I coach to every individual player with their techniques and he’s always trying to tweak and find different ways for them to improve and he’s even said openly that look guys could struggle initially when they work with me because we do kind of change some things up but if they trust me you know they’re going to eventually take those steps I think you’ve seen that happen in Buffalo and so now he’s got his fingerprints even more on the Run scheme the pass protection and the Player Development really excited for his third season with this offensive line all right there’s more way more I want to get to I want to get to some developing depth players on the other side of it um a lot of those and some veteran Hedges The X Factor for this group plenty to get to so be sure to stick with me folks the NFL schedule is out the bills have so many big games and I’m sure you want to get to some of those well if you do you got to download the game time app game time is the fast and easy way to purchase tickets for all the sports music comedy and Theater events near you they have amazing last minute ticket specials they give you Flash Deals when you go into the app it’s easy to navigate they give you a seat view so you can look and see all right what’s it going to look like when I get into my seat but my favorite thing is the all-in pricing they give you the total price from the beginning of the purchase no surprise fees coming at the end so te uh take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on NFL for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account and redeem code locked on NFL that’s locked n NFL for $20 off download the game time app today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed all right let’s keep talking about what makes me excited for this offensive line in 2024 and it is the developing depth I think you can point to three young players that kind of out of nowhere have carved out a little roll for themselves and I’m excited to see how it expands in 2024 Ryan vandemar is the first guy that I want to mention really cool story here um toolsy player coming out of college the bills got their hands on him he spent a year on the practice squad and then last season at training camp he really caught my eye and if you were part of our conversations last year during preseason I became more and more impressed with him on a weekly basis and then he ends up winning a job right he he gets rostered he’s the swing tackle all season long he you know he’s dresses as an active player first off the bench at right and left tackle and so after one year on the practice squad he develops into your literal first guy off the bench at tackle super toolsy guy has size length athleticism for days and so now he’s back right and I mean it’s his job to lose in my opinion to be the swing tackle once again I’m excited to see how he develops you know you think about that leap from year one to year two for him year two to year three could be even bigger and I’m excited to watch him again in Camp in preseason and see how he continues his trajectory as a young player I think you can apply everything that I just said about Ryan vandemark to Alec Anderson very similar spent 2022 on the practice squad earned a roster spot in 2023 as a depth player you saw like the year-over-year growth from Anderson in preseason was huge in my opinion and and through playing well in preseason he’s also played well in a bunch of different spots so far in two preseason Alec Anderson has 78 snaps at left tackle 25 at left guard 59 at Center 42 at Right Guard and 33 at right tackle I mean that’s insane that’s literally all five spots that versatility is gonna keep him in the league for a long time and so I think he’s right back in that that position where you know he he can be the Ryan baates for this unit moving forward I love the trajectory that he’s on as a player and so you’ve seen that happen for both vandemark and Anderson practice squad to the active roster now here’s year three but my question is and this is a good question is Richard garage the next guy that has the same Arc Richard garage a 2023 undrafted free agent out of Florida had good tape at Florida was very impressive at the Senior Bowl I remember being on the field at that uh that 2023 Senior Bowl watching o line dline one-on-one reps that’s where you can always find me and Richard garage held his own that the the story with Richard garage is that he just kind of lacks tools not super big really poor athlete I mean A52 R score which is super low but he can play I mean you you you saw that at Florida you saw that at at the senior bow I saw that during training camp in in preseason games last year but I think the big thing for garage is going to be the versatility you probably don’t think of him much as a versatile player but you should he only played offensive tackle last season during the preseason but we do know that from the reports coming out of OTAs that he did get opportunities to play guard this year and in college he played a lot of guard so his time at Florida 1,700 snaps at tackle 1100 snaps really 1,200 snaps at guard so that him tapping into that versatility particularly playing on the inside I think is going to help him as a guy that doesn’t necessarily have a tackle body but certainly doesn’t have tackle athleticism this could be a really good move for him and one thing that Aaron chromer does if you’re going to play guard you gota you know he tests you out at Center and see if you can snap you talk about just continuing to check boxes I’m interested here so big camp and preseason for Richard garage to potentially be the next guy in this practice squad to the roster pipeline to give this Bills team more and more offensive line depth so talked about three starters that I’m pretty pumped up about three backups that I’m really keeping an eye on as young guys that are on a nice little path but then the bills added even more through the draft the bills drafted three offensive linemen 30% of their draft picks were offensive linemen now they’re laid around picks but there’s a lot of appeal with each and every one of them we’ll start with their six round pick uh Tylan greel out of UCF he’s a guy that played basketball and football in high school but when he played football he played quarterback play offensive line so he’s a no star recruit he winds up breaking his foot his final season in high school he’s only got like division two offers he walks on at Jacksonville State in transitions from quarterback to tight end then in his second season at Jacksonville State he moves to offensive line winds up starting at tackle then he transfers to UCF he plays there for two seasons and has 27 starts at left tackle for UCF didn’t allow a sack in 2023 65 306 over 33in arms 10 in an e inch hands ran a 495 40 yard dashes ra score is a 978 which is outstanding so size athleticism untap potential now his tape’s rough I didn’t love it I watched him play at UCF uh after the bills drafted him and I thought you know he needed a lot of work but what a great opportunity for him to come to Buffalo work with Aaron chromer who has a great history with Spencer Brown with Ryan vandemark of being able to develop athletes and of course I mean I’m just talking about his Buffalo career Aaron Cromer his time with Chicago his time with the Saints his first INT in Buffalo his time with the Raiders I mean this guy’s got an unbelievable track record and here’s a ball of clay here that has tons of untap potential to tap into speaking of untapped potential how about the bill seventh round pick Travis Clayton from the international pathway program a rugbe player right no idea if this guy could play in the NFL but he is 67303 with 35 inch arms 10inch hands and ran at 479 background in boxing in tennis and rugby we’ll see he gets an opportunity to be exempt on the roster so the bills will be able to keep 17 players on their practice squad which is one more than the rest of the league because of Travis Clayton so he’s gonna get it’s G to be a slow burn here but talk about a ball at clay he’s 23 years old with that type of size and athleticism I’m sure Aaron croman is quite excited about that opportunity so plenty of young intriguing offensive lineman this isn’t just a bunch of replacement level bums right like I studied I’ve I’ve studied the entire NFL I’ve I’ve graded every single player in the NFL this offseason I’ve studied the offensive line depth across the league and and you look at a lot of teams and their offensive line depth is just I mean candidly just a bunch of slugs guys that they’re I mean they’re toast if those guys have to play it’s not good and we’re talking about Bill’s 10th 11th 12th offensive lineman here there’s a lot of good stuff going on and oh by the way there are some very intriguing veteran Hedges that exist so the reality of everything that I just said about Ryan vandemark and Alec Anderson and Richard garage and Travis Clayton and tylon grael they all sound interesting but we really don’t know how good they are there’s a lot of good trajectory and all that but none of them have really played in the NFL well how about that Brandon Bean he’s got some veteran Hedges with depth players on the offensive line that have played in the NFL how about will Clap The Bill signed him very experienced and functional Reserve player 65 games in the NFL 21 starts started you know almost the majority of the season for the Chargers last year at Center plenty of time at left guard has served that jumbo tight end role in the past and you know he’s a functional Reserve I I think he has an uphill climb to make the roster but an experienced functional Reserve now one thing that’s notable with him is that he signed a one-year $1.1 million contract only $212,000 of that is guaranteed that’s not a good indicator right sometimes when you try to figure out what decisions teams are going to make on who to start or who to keep on the roster and who not to keep follow the money well the you don’t follow the money to will clap and and feel oh yeah he’s definitely gonna make it but you do look at Lyall Collins the other veteran hedge if you will and he signed a oneyear $1.75 million deal one and a. half million of that is guaranteed bot the money that probably tells you Lyall Collins is going to make the roster now if he stinks and he can’t move anymore and the injuries have caught up with him well yeah then he’s not the bills will take the L and not keep him but you kind of follow the money here and you feel like there’s a chance and Lyall Collins has been a good starter in the NFL 31 years old he started 86 games you know almost all of that nearly 5,000 career snaps at right tackle almost 900 at left guard and he presents the bills with an option that I think could play backup right tackle and potentially be a backup at guard and what’s interesting about Ryan vandemar is in all of my exposures to him way better left tackle than he is right tackle well here’s Lyle Collins who’s never played left tackle but has been a good right tackle in the NFL so you kind of balance that out a little bit so I’m pretty excited about that all right um I have so much more to get to I want to talk about the X Factor for this offensive line and I want to talk about my questions and of course we’ll get into that transition of David Edwards and Conor McGovern going over to center a lot more to get to folks stick with me all right this is one of those episodes where the way that I play in the show doesn’t align because I’m saying more than I anticipated so we we’re playing a little catchup here in the third segment but I want to get to The X Factor of this offensive line and that’s to me and you’ve heard me talk about this guy a lot Cedric van pran Granger he’s the ex factor of this offensive line fifth round draft pick out of Georgia 22 years old was a a big high school recruit could have went wherever he W he goes to Georgia starts 44 games a two-time captain at Georgia and just watch him play watch his tape at Georgia he’s a good player like you watch him play and he just doesn’t lose battles just very consistent the way he executes the way he wins on a snapto snap basis doesn’t lose reps good power good body control understands angles very high-end pass protector in over 1,400 pass blocking snaps in college he allowed one sack and 34 pressures that’s amazing High effort guy leader I guess your question with him and this is a question that some people have and I’m going to try right now to tell you that it shouldn’t be a question the reality is he’s only played center right all those games all 44 of those games every snap has come at Center so he needs to prove his versatility but he’s not a center only I can tell you that the team does not view him as a center only he’s gonna get chances to play guard and I said this on herd mentality the the last episode of herd mentality but Aaron chromer you you look at look at Cedric van pran you might say his measurables tell you that he’s Center Aaron chromer when he was with the Rams he played Austin ble at guard 1,800 snaps over 1,800 snaps in Four Seasons Austin ble is 62 291 with 30 and a quarter inch arms 62 291 with 30 and a quarter inch arms Cedric vanran Granger is 64 298 with 31 and 38 on the arms and he’s got power and that’s really the big the leading body type matters but the leading reason that you probably put a guy at Center over guard assuming they could snap is because you’re concerned about their anchor and their power and at Center you’re less likely to have a body right on top of you as opposed to guard he’s gonna get chances to play guard and I think there could be a path for him I don’t know if that’s this year but maybe next year to be the starting left guard to really challenge David Edwards for that job don’t be surprised when Cedric van pran Granger forces the issue and gets into the starting lineup at some point over the next couple of years so a lot to be excited about a lot we’re 24 minutes into this conversation and I haven’t even gotten into my questions but we will get into the questions right now and I think the leading question with the Bills offensive line is hey everything you said’s great the unit was really good but we we’re making a big transition a huge one right Mitch Morris bye-bye Ryan Bates bye-bye Conor McGovern you’re going over to Center David Edwards you’re the projected starter left guard we we we have to see it play out right we got to see that happen but if you do listen to Conor McGovern talk about playing Center the young man lights up I actually have a clip for you from his media availability during OTAs of him discussing that move over to Center so let’s go ahead and play that right now last year it helped Mitch uh a lot like with the calls but in the day it was his show to run and now it’s mine and I just love that extra like weight on my shoulder to do that and just got to be the tip of the spear is my I would say Center is my natural position so it’s just going back home yes how much did you miss I missed it a lot honestly uh so I got drafted as a center originally and then new coaching staff came in I got moved to guard and always kind of seek my way back to the center every every time something happened play a little bit and then always went back to guard now fish I could move back to Center permanently for right now so I’m very happy happy that’s what makes you love it yeah makes that’s what I always grew so I was actually hard to believe but I was actually undersized growing up like in high school and surprisingly so I was always at Center cuz I was usually the smallest one and then once I hit my Gro spurt finally I just stayed at Center went to pens Center moved the guard then went back to Center and it was just always something natural like I always like being that the guy right in the middle and it was always comfortable to me dude’s pretty excited right now it needs to come together right we got to see it happen I feel pretty good about it he’s confident and the bills made a choice here that’s what I keep going back to with this entire situation they made a choice they didn’t have to do this they didn’t have to cut Mitch Morris they didn’t have to trade Ryan Bates they chose to do it presumably because they like this idea and they didn’t make that choice because they woke up one day Brandon beid said you know what I’d like to do I’d like to get worse at Center and left guard right there was intentionality behind this and so it’s really cool to see Conor McGovern’s energy towards this again we got to see it happen it’s got to come together so that’s like part one of the transition and I feel good about that the other part is David Edwards playing left guard and David Edwards came over last season had a great year as this utility jumbo tight end blocker was awesome and now he’s gonna have that opportunity to be the starting left guard and he’s been a starter he’s a three-year starter to start his career with the Rams and of course Aaron crrom being part of that coaching staff when they drafted him and he coached him for his first few seasons there and you felt like David Edwards was on a great path and then he kind of had some injury stuff and the reality is he’s only started four games over the last two seasons so this is a big opportunity for him hopefully it comes together and he performs couple other things here offensive line Health from 2023 the bills were really healthy I mean it’s very rare to have all five starters play every single game and that’s what the bills enjoyed last year that continuity matters a ton some teams experience major transition I mean lot of teams look at teams in the bills own division whether it’s the Patriots Jets or Dolphins those teams are cycling offensive linemen in left and right I mean this happens across the league the bills were very fortunate when it comes to offensive line Health knock on wood that continues the next thing I want to bring up is who will be the next David Edwards this utility jumbo tight end role has definitely been a thing for this football team you go back to Tommy Doyle Bobby Hart David Edwards of course like this is this is a thing who’s that going to be will clap has experience doing that but is he going to make the team Lyall Collins Alec Anderson Ryan vandemark Richard garage Cedric vanran Granger like who’s it gonna be because it’s an important role for this offense and then the last thing is who’s G to make this roster I think you have space to roster nine offensive linemen your five starters Dawkins Edwards McGovern torren and brown I’m G to add Cedric vanran Granger to that list because I think those are the six roster locks barring injury of course so then you have three spots available and I think the most likely people that are goingon to make it out of those out of the depth for those last three spots is Ryan vandemark Alec Anderson and Lyall Collins but will clap Richard garage tylon grael they’re around as well so you have great competition good mix of Youth veterans athleticism power great offensive line coach so while you could take a second and look at last year’s group and and recognize some differences and you know get a little bit down about that there’s still plenty to be excited about with this offensive line and I expect it to continue to perform at a high level like it did last year and and maybe even be better right Spencer Brown still developing Deon Dawkins just had the best season of his career we’ll see what McGovern can do at Center Osiris torren in year two lot to be excited about with this offensive line really top to bottom and I hope that’s what you gained from listening to this episode all right folks that’s going to do it for us here today on the podcast as always I kindly ask that you share subscribe rate and review have a great rest of your day go bills and I look forward to catching up with you again real soon

The Buffalo Bills offensive line experienced a breakthrough in 2023 in Aaron Kromer’s second season with the team but the unit enters 2024 with some new dynamics. Can it be better? What are the questions? On today’s episode, Host Joe Marino breaks down all of the dynamics surrounding the Buffalo Bills offensive line entering 2024. The show is focused on the Buffalo Bills, Sean McDermott, Brandon Beane, Joe Brady, Josh Allen, Dion Dawkins, David Edwards, Connor McGovern, O’Cyrus Torrence, Spencer Brown, La’El Collins, Ryan Vandemark, Alec Anderson, Sedrick Van Pran Granger, Tylan Grable, Travis Clayton, Will Clapp, Richard Gouriage, James Cook, Dalton Kincaid, Von Miller and more!

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