The Buffalo Bills on Thursday announced that starting right tackle Spencer Brown was placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list. He was the second starter in just the past few days to be added to the list after defensive tackle Star Lotulelei was added on Sunday before the game against the New York Jets.
The rules for a player coming off this list vary dependent on their vaccination status as Nick Veronica details in his tweet. If he is vaccinated, there is a chance he could return for Sunday’s game against the Colts but it is looking unlikely with him being placed on the list this late in the week.
If he is unvaccinated, he is out a minimum of 10 days which also means he would miss next week’s game against the New Orleans Saints on Thanksgiving.
It will be a challenge for the Buffalo Bills to replace Spencer Brown
With the likelihood that he is to miss one game, potentially two, the coaching staff now faces the challenge of replacing the rookie on the offensive line. The Bills faced this exact issue two weeks ago against the Jacksonville Jaguars with awful results.
The team elected to move Daryl Williams outside to right tackle, where he started the year, and start Cody Ford at right guard. However, this shuffling created two weaknesses as Williams is a better guard than a tackle, and Ford at this point can’t be a reliable option at guard.
This is also a week that the Buffalo Bills would likely want to be stronger up the middle with the Colts having one of the better defensive tackles in the NFL in DeForest Buckner.
If the Buffalo Bills elect to keep Williams at guard, they do have some options at right tackle. They could use Ryan Bates, who has been with the team for a few years now but hasn’t played many meaningful regular season snaps there.
They also could look at Tommy Doyle, who was selected in the fifth round of the 2021 NFL Draft, however, last week Doyle briefly played in place of Dion Dawkins and on the first play gave up a sack. This is not an ideal solution either.
In the end, the coaching staff is going to need to account for a right side of the line that is weaker than the prior week without Spencer Brown. This could mean more tight ends lining up next to them to block or keeping a running back in the backfield to pick up blockers.