The Super Bowl is over, and the 2022 NFL season has come to a close. The Kansas City Chiefs are once again world champions and Bills Mafia is back repeating an all too familiar saying, “there is always next season”. The Buffalo Bills season ended weeks ago and all the talk around the fan base is primarily regarding the NFL Draft. But what about NFL Free Agency is only a month away?
So much of the draft is affected by what happens throughout free agency. While many might say the Bills need to draft a young, talented wide receiver in round one, what happens if they elect to sign a veteran in free agency? Is wide receiver no longer a need or do they stockpile the position? For me, I’d much rather stockpile the offensive line and let the five best linemen rise to the top, improving the line to protect Josh Allen, also known as the Bills’ Super Bowl window.
Over the years it seems the offensive line has been a point of contention with fans. For whatever reason, the Bills staff have not been able to build a solid unit. It’s almost like they are still recovering from the unexpected departures of Eric Wood and Richie Incognito several years ago. This team just has not put together an offensive line that is anything more than average at best since they left.
If the team decides to look to free agency again this year to improve the line, what are some options? There is a fair amount of talent available via free agency in offensive linemen but some of those may end up re-signing with their current team, while others may simply be too expensive for the Bills to fit under the cap this year. Buffalo will have some options with contract restructuring to free up some space, possibly around $56 million but that is dependent how which contracts they decide to restructure.
Keep in mind, a contract restructuring is not the same as renegotiating. The players involved will still get paid the same with a restructured contract, the difference being when they get paid. General Managers around the league get paid a lot of money to play the numbers games with contracts and the salary cap to make things work.
So, with that, let’s take a look at three potential free-agent offensive linemen signings for the Bills.
Justin Pugh, G
Justin Pugh spent the last five seasons in Arizona as one of the Cardinals’ starting guards. He’s played in 120 career games, starting 19 of them. He’s a former first-round selection of the New York Giants and has started at right tackle in 37 career games, so he brings some versatility; however, he has not played the tackle position in the last five years.
PFF had Pugh rated at a 61 overall in 2022 but played in only five games before his season was cut sure by injury, which means signing him does not come without risk. That risk is in the form of a torn ACL. He was initially placed on IR by the Cardinals on October 17, 2022. So naturally, there are questions of whether he’ll be back in time for the season and do the Bills want to take that risk. The injury would allow a cheaper contract no doubt, but Pugh has also considered retirement in the past, so that could still happen as well.
In an article from CardsWire, Pugh indicated he wants to play for a winning team and isn’t interested in being part of a rebuild, which makes sense for the 32-year-old lineman.
Signing Pugh likely comes at a discount due to the injury but also what about the age, do the Bills want to sign a guy that one, may not be able to suit up in time for Week One, let alone take part in any of the off-season activities and two is likely only a short-term answer?
Connor McGovern, G/C
Connor McGovern of the New York Jets, not to be confused with Connor McGovern of the Dallas Cowboys, is another intriguing option at guard and one I like much better than Justin Pugh. For starters, he’s younger, at 29 years of age.
Secondly, he played in and started all 17 games in 2022. He’s played in 95 total games throughout his career, starting 84 of them. His career started with the Denver Broncos as a guard, eventually taking over at center during his second year, and as stayed there ever since. With Mitch Morse manning the center position for the Bills, McGovern could move over to guard for the Bills and gives them some insurance should Morse go down at any point with an injury or possibly even decide to retire due to his concussion history.
Add to that, he’s started every single game of his career, except one, since the start of the 2018 season. This is a player with no significant injury history and considering the revolving door the Bills had along the line this past season due to injuries, this would be a great signing for the Bills.
Also, as I previously stated, he’s started 84 career games and during his career, he’s committed a total of 16 penalties. To put that in contrast, Buffalo’s two starting guards in 2022, Roger Saffold and Ryan Bates committed a total of ten penalties, just this season. Since we are comparing the current offensive starters, PFF rated McGovern 69.6. Only Dion Dawkins had a higher PFF grade. McGovern would be a huge upgrade on this Bills’ line.
Mike McGlinchey, T
Mike McGlinchey has spent the last five seasons with the San Francisco 49ers and is a big reason that the run game is always so good. He’s the youngest of the three linemen I’ve profiled here, at 28 years old. He started his career at right guard, starting 16 games as a rookie, before moving over to right tackle in his second year and has been a mainstay at that position ever since.
The fact he’s played the guard position gives him some versatility and regardless of your opinion of Spencer Brown, McGlinchey would be an immediate upgrade at the tackle spot and perhaps the team could have success with Brown if they moved him inside to right guard, and Ryan Bates back to left guard, where he played in 2021.
If Brown happens to play well this off-season and shows he can take some significant steps at right tackle, then McGlinchey could take the right guard spot. Either way, you go, he provides options for the team and insurance should Brown not pan out going forward.
No doubt McGlinchey is the one with the most market value here, but he also may be the biggest improvement over the current starters. When I checked out his numbers this past season, I was a little surprised to see his penalty count was pretty high, so that might be a concern, having committed 13 total penalties over the past two seasons, including eight in 2022. Is McGovern the better option? PFF rated McGlinchey 71.5, which is better than McGovern but not by much, plus the price tag on McGovern figures to be a couple of million less.