Buffalo Bills: Erik Pears On The Bubble

Dec 22, 2013; Orchard Park, NY, USA; Buffalo Bills tackle Erik Pears (79) during a game against the Miami Dolphins at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports

At this point, the Bills roster is standing strong at 90 players going into training camp.

One of the position battles to keep an eye on throughout training camp, is across the offensive line. The Bills drafted 3 offensive linemen in this years draft, and all could start on the line with their talent. Cyrus Kouandjio and Cyril Richardson were both projected at late 1st to early 2nd round picks and Seantrel Henderson was a blue chip lineman coming out of college with some off the field issues, but talent-wise as strong as they come, and the Bills nabbed him as their 7th round pick.

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Along with those three additions, returning to the team are incumbents; Cordy Glenn, Kraig Urbik, Eric Wood, Doug Legursky, and Erik Pears. Chris Hairston is also returning but was injured all of last year and did not play.

J.J. ‘Unga, Antoine McClain, Edawn Coughman, Garrison Sanborn and Mark Asper are also all hold overs from last year that will be vying for a spot on the roster. Chris Williams is a new addition to the team via free agency and Macky MacPherson was signed just over a month ago as an undrafted free agent.

So now that all of the lineman have been introduced, lets take a look at possibilities for making the team and possible position spots.

The biggest spot in question is the right tackle spot. Erik Pears is the incumbent and it is his to lose. The Bills draft Cyrus Kouandjio as Pears’ replacement. So far during the offseason camps, they have pretty much split the time at right tackle. Pears, is going to be a question mark. He has a salary of 2.75 million that will be guaranteed come week 1 of the season. The Bills will not pay that amount of money for him to sit on the bench even though, he would be a good insurance policy to have on the line, should Kouandjio start to slip or get injured.

The Bills also have Chris Hairston who has been Cordy Glenn’s back-up. Hairston has also seen playing guard during their camps so far. Seantrel Henderson ca also be looked at as the wildcard here. Henderson or Hairston could be considered the Bills 3rd tackle, and if Kounadjio wins the right tackle spot, Pears’ may be no more with the Bills.

Cordy Glenn has the left tackle spot locked up, with Eric Wood in the Center. Kraig Urbik is most likely one of the guards. Chris Williams will be fighting Doug Legursky for the other guard spot along with Cyril Richardson and Hairston. This leaves one of the guards and the right tackle open. This is the position battle to keep your eyes one.

The Bills could be looking at Glenn, Hairston, Wood, Urbik, Kouandjio as their starting line with Richardson, Henderson, Williams, Sanborn, and Legursky as your back-ups, if you keep 10 lineman. Sanborn is almost guaranteed a spot because of long-snapping, so really 9 lineman on the team. If this is the case though, they free up 2.75 with Pears being gone and probably have one of the deepest lines, talent-wise in a long time. I like the possibilities here, a lot of options.

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