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Any time a team revamps a position, it’s an indictment of the players who were there the year before. With the Buffalo Bills adding so many new faces along the offensive line, it’s clear that the coaching staff and front office agreed that the play up front was not good enough.
In today’s installment of our “90 players in 90 days” series, we profile one of the team’s young offensive lineman—someone who started nearly half the team’s games last season, but who might find himself heading back to the bench in 2019.
Name: Wyatt Teller
Number: 75
Position: G
Height/Weight: 6’4” 314 lbs.
Age: 24 (25 on 11/21/19)
Experience/Draft: 1; selected in the fifth round (166 overall) of the 2018 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills
College: Virginia Tech
Acquired: Fifth-round draft choice
Financial situation (per Spotrac): Teller enters the second year of his four-year rookie contract, a pact that totals $2,714,123 with a $254,123 signing bonus. In 2019, Teller will carry a cap charge of $633,530; if the Bills were to cut him, he would count $190,593 against the cap in dead money.
2018 Recap: Teller began the season as a reserve, but he saw his first game action during Buffalo’s blowout loss against the Chicago Bears in Week 9. After that, he became the full-time starter at left guard for the remainder of the season, amassing a total of 475 snaps on the year. He committed five penalties for a total of 33 yards without allowing a sack.
Positional outlook: Teller is one of five guards on the roster. Jon Feliciano, Vladimir Ducasse, Quinton Spain, and Ike Boettger are the other four who are listed solely as guards, while Jeremiah Sirles and Spencer Long are both listed at multiple positions. Long, for what it’s worth, has been playing almost exclusively at guard this offseason. Cody Ford and Ty Nsekhe are also capable of kicking inside.
2019 Offseason: Teller has participated in all offseason activities to date, and he has served as the starting right guard at points. Whether this is by design or due to injuries will become clear as the summer progresses.
2019 Season outlook: Teller will be an interesting player to watch as the offseason unfolds, as he could swing anywhere from a starting role to being a surprise cut. I think it’s likely that he makes the roster as a reserve, but if he shows improvement from what was an up-and-down rookie year, he could push the team’s veteran additions for a starting gig.