Buffalo Bills 2023 NFL Draft: 3 players and 1 game to watch in Week 1

Buffalo Bills 2023 Draft Prospect to Watch: Guard O’Cyrus Torrence, Florida

Measurables: 6-5, 347lbs

Game: Florida vs. #7 Utah (Saturday 9/3 7:00 PM ESPN)

A transfer from Louisiana, Ragin Cajuns’ O’Cyrus Torrence was a bulldozer for current San Fransisco 49ers RB Elijah Mitchell for two years, then helped lead the Ragin Cajuns’ offense to have three RBs combine for over 2,000 yards rushing and 28 TD’s. Torrence comes to Florida with his head coach Billy Napier who looks to rebound the Gators from the past years of struggle.

Torrence is likely the biggest guy every time he steps on the field. Not only is he big, but he has excellent movement for a guard his size. He is quick with his lateral movements and can be a very effective lead blocker in the second and third levels of the defense.  His size and athletic ability are the ideal traits you are looking for in a guard. Torrence also does an outstanding job of using his hands as weapons and not just relying on his body and athleticism.

His weaknesses are primarily in the passing game, where he can be susceptible to getting beat off the snap and being caught in not ideal positions. While most of his downfalls come from his footwork in pass protection, he does lack some of the dominance you see in the run game when the ball is in the quarterback’s hands.

In the run game, Torrence is a mauler, to no surprise. However, watching some of his reps, it sometimes seems that his mean streak disappears when he drops into pass protection. His size and athletic ability are certainly enough to save him often, but Torrence could be considered a little raw for his position at the NFL level. With the athleticism there already, Torrence has a high ceiling as a prospect, but it is hard to tell where his floor currently is.

What to Watch For: While Utah is not ranked #7 because of a plethora of starts on defense, they do have some excellent players, many of which could land in the NFL at some point.

Torrence is taking a significant step up in competition alongside his coach, moving from the Sun Belt conference to an SEC powerhouse. It will be interesting to see how he deals with this step up in competition.