You may recall that, back in the 2014 preseason, Buffalo Bills offensive tackle Cordy Glenn was mysteriously absent from practices. The Bills told media that Glenn was missing camp time due to an illness, but did not disclose the nature of it. Glenn was in the lineup in time for Week 1, played 98.5 percent of snaps last season, and has only missed a handful this year in what is fair to call a career season for the pending free agent.
That mystery illness had long been forgotten. But in announcing that Glenn had won the Bills' Ed Block Courage Award on Wednesday, head coach Rex Ryan may have let the cat out of the bag regarding what had Glenn down and out in the summer of 2014.
Cordy Glenn got the Ed Block Courage Award. Rex Ryan mentioned Cordy overcoming a kidney issue. I believe that's the first we heard of that.
— Matthew Fairburn (@MatthewFairburn) December 23, 2015
Again, Glenn played 1,046 snaps in 2014, and is up to 922 (out of 938) through 14 games this season. Clearly, whatever kidney issue Glenn has been dealing with hasn't kept him off the field, and he has also overcome it to the point that he has bounced back dramatically from what many consider a down year for him last season.
Glenn, who won't turn 27 until the 2016 regular season begins, has been the Bills' starting left tackle for the last four years. He will command a pretty penny, indeed, on the free agent market this spring. If the Bills want to keep him around - they're saying they do - they'll need to scrounge up a lot of cash to do so.
Update: And by "kidney issue," we apparently mean "Glenn had his kidney completely removed from his body."
Cordy Glenn said he had his kidney removed ahead of last season
— Joe Buscaglia (@JoeBuscaglia) December 23, 2015
So, yeah.