The 2022 regular season is less than a week away and the Buffalo Bills will face the defending Super Bowl champions Los Angeles Rams to kick off the regular season. The Bills for the most part should feel good where their roster is and are in a good position heading into Week 1.
However, there are some lingering questions left and some of these questions may not be answered until the team steps onto the field in SoFi Stadium.
4 questions the Buffalo Bills still need to answer before the regular season
Are there any contract extensions they can finalize before the season?
One of the big questions for the Buffalo Bills that shouldn’t have an impact on the field this season is whether or not the team can agree to any contract extensions before the regular season.
General manager Brandon Beane has typically not worked on extensions during the season but made an exception last year with Taron Johnson. This may be something the Bills do more moving forward but it seems like it will not become a regular occurrence.
On Thursday, Brandon Beane met with reporters and asked if there was an update on contract negotiations with Jordan Poyer. According to Jon Scott with Spectrum News, Beane said there were no updates at this time.
However, Poyer is not the only player that could be in line for a new deal as Devin Singletary, Dawson Knox, and Tremaine Edmunds are all entering the final year of their deals. If the deadline is still in place to work out new deals, then it will be interesting to see if any of these players are extended past this year.
Who starts at cornerback?
This has been a lingering question all offseason but the hope was that Tre’Davious White would be able to return in time and this wouldn’t be as big of a concern. Unfortunately, it was confirmed this week that White in fact will not be available as he was moved to the reserve/PUP list.
During training camp and the preseason games, it has been a combination of Dane Jackson, Kaiir Elam, and Christian Benford that have been starting at outside cornerback for the defense. Among those three, Dane Jackson should be the top cornerback and a lock to start.
This will leave the other spot for either of the two rookie cornerbacks, Elam or Benford. The hope would be that Elam would get the start as the team did draft him in the first round and the former Florida Gator has tremendous potential. However, Christian Benford has been equally impressive during the preseason and has done a good job over the course of the three games.
The good news for the Bills is they do have options and the Rams may not have an idea of who they will face in Week 1 but it may not create much of a competitive advantage against the Rams. They will likely try to game plan Cooper Kupp lining up against the rookies and have Stafford continually test them in Week 1.
Who starts at right tackle?
Another starting position that doesn’t have a clear starter at this point is on the offensive line at right tackle. The belief for most of the offseason was that Spencer Brown would be the starter, and that seemed like a safe bet after a promising rookie season.
However, Brown has been brought along slowly during training camp and the preseason after it was reported he had a back procedure during the offseason. During that time, David Quessenberry has been with the starters and has done a very good job in place of Brown.
Quessenberry was a starter last year for the Tennessee Titans and joined the Bills this offseason as a free agent on a one-year deal.
The first question is do the Buffalo Bills believe Spencer Brown is ready to be a full-time starter? They have been bringing him along slowly and he even got some extra snaps in the final preseason game against the Carolina Panthers, a game where almost all the starters were sitting out.
If Brown is available, the coaching staff will need to decide if they want to make a switch or stick with Quessenberry. He has been with the starters for training camp and the second preseason game against the Denver Broncos, so do they want to lose the familiarity this group has been built, or do they turn back to Spencer Brown?
Who is the backup center?
The hope is that the Buffalo Bills will never have to answer this question and Mitch Morse is able to play every snap this season. He has shown during his time with the Buffalo Bills to be very durable and has missed only two games over three seasons.
However, what if Morse is forced to miss time? Who is the backup that would need to step in?
The thought was that Greg Mancz would be that player but he was released. While he is back with the team on the practice squad, he wouldn’t be available during the game unless he was called up for that game.
This leaves potentially two options for the Bills among offensive linemen with some experience but neither has really started any games there. The first is Ryan Bates, who is a versatile player and one of the reasons he remained with the team for a few years.
However, this past season he showed he can make an impact as a starter and is now expected to be the starting right guard. If the Bills wanted Bates to be the replacement, the coaching staff would then need to decide who starts at right guard.
The other option would be Greg Van Roten, who was a free agent addition earlier this year. He has primarily been a guard but could also play center if the need were to arise and did some during the preseason. Neither player is necessarily ideal and the hope is that the coaching staff will not find themselves in a position where they need to answer this question.
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