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The Buffalo Bills had a bad offensive line in 2018. Or, at least the offensive line performed poorly during the season, if you’re feeling a bit more generous. The team consistently struggled to protect its quarterbacks and also failed to open holes for the team’s rushers. After losing left tackle Cordy Glenn, left guard Richie Incognito, and center Eric Wood, a step back was expected, but the team was caught without enough talent at an incredibly important spot on the roster.
In the offseason, general manager Brandon Beane revamped the offensive line, adding a total of eight new faces to the trenches. While health has been an issue early on, when the top unit has been on the field, the returns have been good overall. In today’s edition of our “90 players in 90 days” series, we profile one of those new editions to the offensive line.
Name: Quinton Spain
Number: 67
Position: G
Height/Weight: 6’4” 330 lbs.
Age: 27 (28 on 8/7/19)
Experience/Draft: 5; signed as UDFA with Tennessee Titans following the 2015 NFL Draft
College: West Virginia
Acquired: Signed with Bills on 4/3/19
Financial situation (per Spotrac): Spain’s one-year contract totals $2.05 million. All that’s guaranteed is a $200,000 signing bonus, so if the team decides to cut him prior to the start of the regular season, that would be the only dead cap charge.
2018 Recap: Spain once again served as Tennessee’s starter at left guard, a job he earned Week 12 during his rookie season. In 2018, Spain made 15 starts, a career-high, bringing his career total to 48 starts in 4 seasons. Spain committed 5 penalties in 2018 for a total of 45 yards. He also allowed 1 sack on the year.
Positional outlook: Spain joins Spencer Long, Vladimir Ducasse, Ike Boettger, Jon Feliciano, De’Ondre Wesley, and Garrett McGhin along the Bills’ interior offensive linemen competing for time.
2019 Offseason: Spain has participated in all of Buffalo’s offseason activities to date. He missed practice on August 1 due to an ankle injury, but it wasn’t serious enough to sideline him for the following night’s Return of the Blue and the Red scrimmage.
2019 Season outlook: Spain will be Buffalo’s starting left guard this year, at least if the way reps have been divided is any indication. He appears to be the second-safest member of the line, with only Mitch Morse more firmly entrenched in his job. The job is Spain’s to lose.