Ranking the Buffalo Bills’ Offensive Line This Season
By Ryan Brennan
The Buffalo Bills’ offensive line almost cracked the top-10 in the NFL this season. Where did they finish?
When the 2016 NFL season started, Pro Football Focus went through and ranked all 32 team’s offensive line, placing the Buffalo Bills in the 10th spot. Although they didn’t remain in that spot by the end of the season, the Bills only moved back one spot.
Taking into account each player’s season grades — in addition to who the team’s quarterback were and the schemes they were playing in — PFF ranked the Buffalo Bills‘ offensive line 11th in the league.
Buffalo came close to cracking the top-ten, but ultimately got beat out by the New England Patriots for that 10th spot.
In addition to ranking the offensive line as a whole, PFF went through and ranked the Bills’ top overall lineman, top run-blocker and top pass-blocker. Largely due to injuries, there was one man that took home all three prizes — Richie Incognito.
Don’t let that fool you, though. Incognito had an incredible season in 2016, which followed an even better 2015 season — where he was named the league’s best left guard.
Richie finished the 2016 season with an 87.2 overall grade (5th in league), 88.8 pass-blocking grade (7th in league) and an 84.0 run-blocking grade (7th in league).
There’s no doubt our 11th ranking would be much higher if we didn’t lose Eric Wood for half of the season, had Cordy Glenn the whole year and got better protection from Jordan Mills.
According to PFF, which Buffalo Bills‘ fans would agree with, our right side definitely needs some help:
"If Buffalo could find an answer to their right tackle issue, this line would vault up the rankings in an instant. Jordan Mills surrendered eight sacks and 57 total QB pressures over 596 pass-blocking snaps this season, fourth-most of any tackle in the game. The play of RG John Miller inside of Mills didn’t help much when it comes to pass blocking, either, giving the Bills a real issue on the right side of the line. Miller allowed four sacks and 33 total QB pressures, but did at least offset that with some strong run blocking."
With that being said, our left side looked great:
"The left side of the line was far better, with LT Cordy Glenn allowing only one sack in 397 pass-blocking snaps before injury sidelined him, and Cyrus Kouandjio surrendering only one sack as his replacement. LG Richie Incognito was again the best player on this line, run blocking and pass blocking well over the year, backing up his strong performance from a season ago with another excellent campaign."
Here’s a look at PFF’s top-ten offensive lines this season:
- Tennessee Titans (9-7)
- Dallas Cowboys (13-3)
- Pittsburgh Steelers (11-5)
- Oakland Raiders (12-4)
- Green Bay Packers (10-6)
- Atlanta Falcons (11-5)
- Washington Redskins (8-7)
- Philadelphia Eagles (7-9)
- Baltimore Ravens (8-8)
- New England Patriots (14-2)
With a healthy Eric Wood, healthy Cordy Glenn, more experienced John Miller and an upgrade at the right tackle, this offensive line could easily find themselves in the top-five next season. It sounds like a lot, but the only factor that will take work is that right tackle.
Next: 6 Players the Bills Should Consider in 2017 First Round
Would you rather the Buffalo Bills find a new right tackle in free agency or the draft? Leave your comments below!