The Buffalo Bills announced on Wednesday that starting center Mitch Morse was placed in concussion protocol.
On Wednesday, head coach Sean McDermott announced before practice that the Buffalo Bills’ top free agent signing Mitch Morse had been placed in concussion protocol. The team’s starting center had missed the last two practices.
The fact that Morse has suffered a concussion this early is certainly a call for concern as this would be his fourth documented concussion in the NFL, according to Howard Simon of WGR 550.
Mitch Morse has suffered 3 concussions in the NFL:
— Howard Simon (@hsimon62) July 31, 2019
2015 week 12, missed 1 game
2015 week 17, missed playoffs
2018 week 6, missed 5 games
Mitch Morse was a second round draft pick by the Kansas City Chiefs and spent the first four years in the league with them. However, this offseason the Bills made a substantial financial commitment to Morse and signed him to a deal that made him the highest paid center in the NFL.
The hope was that he could bring stability and production to the position, something they did not have last year with Eric Wood retiring before the start of the season.
The impact of Morse missing time is two-fold for the Bills offense. The team entered camp with an almost complete overhaul of the offensive line, with four new starters. The fact that they had this much change, this starting line needed as many practice reps as possible to come together.
The other issue this impacts is that Josh Allen and Morse need reps to work on the snap exchange. This was something that came up on the first practice when there was a botched snap in the red zone and the two had to run a sprint the length of the field.
Josh Allen and Mitch Morse just botched a snap in a red-zone drill. Sean McDermott made them run to the other end of the field and back.
— Prescott Rossi (@PrescottRossi) July 25, 2019
In place of Morse, Russell Bodine will be taking reps at center with the first team. However, the hope is that Mitch Morse will be cleared quickly and can get back to practice.