Buffalo Bills: Now is the time to commit to Cody Ford at guard
The news of Jon Feliciano’s was not good for the Buffalo Bills but it also gives them a chance to move Cody Ford to guard.
Last offseason, the Buffalo Bills played around with the idea of playing their second round pick Cody Ford at guard. However, Jon Feliciano played well and Cody Ford showed enough to warrant being the starting right tackle.
While Ford did a good job as a rookie at right tackle, there is no question that his highest potential is at guard. On Friday, the Bills found out that they were going to be without Jon Feliciano for the next couple of months due to a torn pectoral and this should be enough to push the coaching staff to commit to moving Cody Ford full-time to guard.
Ford is a massive offensive lineman at 6’4″ and 329 pounds and possesses incredible power that almost always gives him an advantage in this category against defensive linemen. The area he struggles is with quicker, speed rushers as he doesn’t have the best footwork to get to the outside and block the rusher at the point of attack.
This is one of the main reasons why there is a belief that Cody Ford has the potential to be a good tackle but a dominant guard. He wouldn’t be asked to move laterally as much to stop those edge rushers but in a smaller area at guard, he can really utilize that power and length to win his matchup.
Another reason the Bills should make the move now is the addition of Daryl Williams this offseason. The former Carolina Panthers’ lineman at one time was a second-team All-Pro, which happened during the 2017 season. The 2018 season was cut short due to a knee injury and then this past year he was moved around to different positions and wasn’t able to focus on just being a right tackle.
Now that he is two years removed from the knee injury and if he is given a chance to focus solely on being a right tackle, he could be a steal for the Buffalo Bills. At only 27 years of age, he still has plenty of good football ahead of him and could have a bounce back year.
Next. Predicting the Bills depth chart at safety. dark
If the Buffalo Bills move Cody Ford to right guard and Daryl Williams is able to bounce back, it is not unrealistic to think that the offensive line could actually be better than they were a season ago. This is why the coaching staff should commit to moving Cody Ford to right guard as soon as padded practices begin in a few weeks.