The Buffalo Bills may have to revamp their offensive line this offseason.
Ike Boettger, a seven game starter at left guard, is a restricted free agent. Jon Feliciano, a key starter for Buffalo in the past two seasons is also set to hit free agency. It’s possible that the Bills retain one or both players, but the team could also look at free agency for possible replacements.
In addition to the actual free agent market, teams across the league are starting to cut players. Lately, many capable starters have hit the market or are about to hit the market.
Trai Turner, Andrew Norwell and Kevin Zeitler have all been mentioned as players who are expected to be released by their respective teams if a trade cannot be made. Of course, there is another veteran who was recently released that the Bills know pretty well.
On Friday, it was announced that the Raiders would be releasing Richie Incognito. Incognito, 37. was released strictly for cap reasons according to Ian Rapoport. The NFL insider added that Incognito is completely healthy and wants to continue playing in 2021.
Although Incognito’s release has not been made official as of this writing, Bills left tackle Dion Dawkins is already starting to recruit the guard to return to Buffalo.
It is no surprise that Dawkins would want to reunite with one of his former teammates. Dawkins referred to Incognito as one of his “big brothers” in an interview with The Buffalo News back in 2019.
“I’m still very close to Richie and a lot of it comes from Richie and E-Wood, who I would call my big brothers,” Dawkins said. “Because when I first came in, it was E-Wood and Richie that took me in. But it was just them speaking on it and it’s my actions. It’s just like anything. You could tell your kids, ‘Hey, I want you to do this, this and this. It will help. Don’t eat this.’ And then if they leave you and then they eat it, that’s not helping. They’ve been saying it, but now it’s me taking it into action.”
Incognito has had two stints with Buffalo in his career. His second stint (2015-2017) saw Incognito make three consecutive Pro Bowl appearances. Although his second stint in Buffalo ended with the team releasing Incognito from the reserved/retired list, it’s possible that the Bills would consider the veteran if he’s willing to compete for a starting job.
In addition to Incognito, the Raiders also released Gabe Jackson this week. Jackson could also be in play for Buffalo as he has experience playing under Bobby Johnson.
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