Who could the Bills possibly add?
We’re only a few weeks away from the start of training camp, at which point the Buffalo Bills will begin the process of identifying the right fits toward fielding an initial 53-man roster in September. But is everyone in consideration for a coveted roster spot already with the team?
I don’t believe the Bills will sign a meaningful free agent this summer (“meaningful” in this instance defined as “player who, once acquired, immediately becomes a very high probability to make roster” — a la wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling post-draft this year and edge rusher Leonard Floyd in the summer of 2023).
But what if they did?
One of my favorite television programs in recent memory is “The Grinder” — a comedy starring Rob Lowe and Fred Savage. In it, Savage plays an Idaho lawyer whose life is suddenly turned upside-down by the return to town of his brother (played by Lowe), who’s trying to acclimate to non-Hollywood life after playing a lawyer on television for years. This, of course, leads to all sorts of hijinx as the fictional lawyer decides to assist his real lawyer brother with his cases. In the show, Lowe’s character Dean Sanderson is known for continually and wistfully challenging his brother’s straight-man declarations of “that’s not how this works” with a distant stare and a response that he found works frequently in his scripts:
“But what if we could?”
So even though it’s unlikely in this writer’s eyes, we’re going to take the Dean Sanderson lead and choose a few offensive free agents the Bills could sign this summer, if they deemed it of value. This won’t be a comprehensive list of all available players, so be sure to point out some of your ideas in the comments (and please let me know if anyone else loves “The Grinder”).
Offensive line
- Mason Cole, C (most recently of the Pittsburgh Steelers)
- Phil Haynes, OG (most recently of the Seattle Seahawks)
The Bills are currently projecting to have two offensive line positions manned by different people in 2024 than they were in 2023. The center position saw stalwart Mitch Morse released and sign with the Jacksonville Jaguars, ostensibly having that spot filled by previous left guard Connor McGovern. Meanwhile, McGovern’s old left guard spot is currently projected to be occupied by previous sixth offensive lineman and utility player David Edwards.
What if the Bills don’t love what they see early in training camp? There would be two ways to approach the issue, hence the two names above being grouped together.
Option One: The Bills don’t love what they’re seeing from McGovern at center. When he signed with the Bills as a free agent from the Dallas Cowboys in 2023, a meaningful amount of discussion was had that he may have played his best ball at guard rather than center. In this scenario, the Bills need a center to bump McGovern back to the position he played at a good level last season, and don’t feel fifth-round rookie Sedrick Van Pran-Granger is ready yet.
Insert Mason Cole, who has that same Morse/VP-G body type (6’5”, 298 pounds) that the Bills seem to value with the historic quickness necessary to get out on pin/pull and zone blocks to connect with moving targets (82nd percentile in the 10 yard split). Still only 28 years old, Cole has never given up more than two sacks in a season across stints with the Steelers, Minnesota Vikings, and Arizona Cardinals. He’s not an upper-echelon starter (or his likelihood of being available at this time of the year would be markedly smaller), but he fits the prototype the Bills have established at the position should the two scenarios listed above (McGovern doesn’t show well, VPG isn’t ready) occur simultaneously.
Option Two: ... is that the Bills like what they’re seeing from McGovern at center but David Edwards isn’t recapturing his form from his time with the Los Angeles Rams alongside current Bills offensive line coach Aaron Kromer. In that case, former Seattle Seahawks lineman Phil Haynes could be the move.
Inconsistency has been the name of the game for Haynes. A practice squad “what if” player who flashed impressive linear movement ability for his size (6’4”, 322 pounds) at the NFL Scouting Combine, Haynes finally got his chance to play meaningful snaps in Seattle in 2022, and went on to play 631 snaps between that year and 2023. He, like most of Seattle’s offensive line, had moments of brilliance mixed in with games that were forgettable — but enough potential still remains in a player yet to turn 29 that you would want to see him paired with an offensive line coach like Aaron Kromer. This is especially true given the work Kromer did with similarly sized Bills 2023 rookie O’Cyrus Torrence, who had one of the quietest rookie seasons from a Bills high draft pick in recent memory (and for an offensive lineman, that’s a good thing).
Skill-position players
- Jamal Agnew, WR (most recently of the Jacksonville Jaguars)
I continue to believe that there will be a team in the NFL who truly gets ahead of the curve with the new kickoff rules for 2024 and will be able to steal a game or two before the remainder of the league catches up. We’ve seen this type of trend before in the league (Remember the Wildcat?) and if the Bills don’t think they have a return guy who can execute on their vision, Agnew might be the call.
A year removed from a 29.0 kick return average in 2022, the former Jaguars receiver spots a 10.2 career punt return average as well. The Bills drafted a backup nickel defender who can potentially be a punt return weapon in Penn State’s Daequan Hardy, but one of the other top contenders for that spot is projected starting receiver Khalil Shakir. Current third running back Ty Johnson may figure into the mix here as well, but if the team’s top two options are a Day 3 rookie and a starting wide receiver — but they still want to make an impact in the return game before other team’s figure out the new normal — Agnew makes sense this summer.
- Jerick McKinnon, RB (most recently of the Kansas City Chiefs)
Bills running back Ty Johnson had a 63.3% rushing success rate in 2023, which would have led the entire NFL among running backs had he enough carries to qualify. At the end of the season, he was the second rusher in Buffalo’s offense behind James Cook, with Latavius Murray relegated to the pass-blocking role and logging zero carries in two playoff games.
But Johnson’s career rushing success rate is 48.7%, and I just said that the sample size in 2023 was small. What if Buffalo wants to upgrade that position with a player with proven pass catching chops who can play special teams (as a third running back needs to do)?
if McKinnon can accept a three-way timeshare again in Buffalo, he logged the second most special teams snaps of his career (169) in Kansas City last year. He scored nine touchdowns receiving and racked up 545 yards for the two-time defending Super Bowl champions in 2022, and would give the Bills a legitimate third player at the position should Ty Johnson not maintain efficiency at higher volume for the team in 2024.
...and that’s the way the cookie crumbles. I’m Bruce Nolan with Buffalo Rumblings. You can find me on Twitter and Instagram @BruceExclusive and look for new episodes of “The Bruce Exclusive” every Thursday on the Rumblings Cast Network!