If there is one thing that Brandon Beane and Sean McDermott are all about, it is development within the players that they drafted themselves. The duo officially started building the Buffalo Bills in 2018 due to the fact that Beane was hired after the 2017 NFL Draft. It is not very often that the Bills’ front office does not believe in a player that was drafted under their regime. There is an emphasis on continuity and growing within the organization. While Buffalo is not afraid to add outside talent, they have only made two big blockbuster moves under Beane (trading for Stefon Diggs and signing future Hall of Famer Von Miller).
One of the players that was drafted in 2021 under this front office is offensive tackle Spencer Brown. Drafted out of Northern Iowa, Brown had a lot of upside but was a bit of disappointment early on in his career. He suffered through multiple injuries and was never the best pass blocker. Heading into last season, Brown needed to step up in a big way for the offensive line for the Bills. There was even a chance that when the Bills had signed veteran Brandon Shell (before he unexpectedly retired right before the start of the season), Brown could have possibly lost a starting role for the Bills.
However, with the work of offensive line coach Aaron Kromer, the Bills had one of the best offensive lines last season by helping keep Josh Allen off of the ground which included a step up from Brown’s game. In addition, Brown had already been a solid run blocker but he managed to help lead the Bills to their first true rushing attack that did not involve Josh Allen being the leader.
Despite Brown’s first two seasons being absolutely rough, he showed Bills fans what he can bring to this offensive line. Now the Bills’ front office will have to make a decision whether to re-sign Brown or not.
The Bills need to really think about extending Spencer Brown before next offseason
The front office is in a weird spot with Brown. Two seasons of underperformance and injury concerns, but then he had his own type of breakout season last year as an overall blocker. Due to the fact that Brown did not have a fifth-year option on his contract, the 2024 season is a contract year for him. Players who head into a season on a contract year tend to have their best year possible because they obviously want to get paid solid money.
If the Bills want to avoid having to pay Brown more money if he has yet another breakout season in 2024, they will need to come to an agreement either before or during the season at some point. If Buffalo decides to wait and see if Brown can play at the same level again, and then he becomes one of the best offensive lineman in the game, it will put the Bills in a tough spot to bring him back which means that Beane will potentially have to bring in a new starter to protect Allen.