Every team relies on rookie deals and cheaper veterans to round out their roster. When they overperform, the team overperforms. The Buffalo Bills are no exception and during the 2019 season they had a solid group of overperforming players.
Coming in at number ten on our countdown of these overachievers is guard Quinton Spain. Spain started every game for the Bills at left guard in 2019 and played the most snaps of anyone on the offense at 1063. That’s 99.44% of the team’s offensive snaps in 2019. Spain wasn’t afforded the same rest time during the Week 17 contest as the rest of his peers.
Spain was good-not-great throughout the season and didn’t give up a sack, but his defenders were able to generate pressure from time to time.
All-in-all, Spain ranked as the 52nd-highest cap hit among NFL guards in 2019 at $2.05 million and played above that bottom-end pay grade. For comparison, Buffalo’s other starting guard, Jon Feliciano, made $3.5 million in 2019 and former Bills guard John Miller cost the Cincinnati Bengals just over $5.4 million. Andrew Norwell of the Jacksonville Jaguars had a $16 million cap hit as the highest-paid guard in the league.
This offseason, Spain signed a three-year, $15 million deal that will more than double his cap hit in 2020. He currently sits at 30th in salary cap cost among guards for next season.
Top Ten Bang for the Dollar Bills, 2019
10. G Quinton Spain ($2.5 million)
9. Coming Thursday