Prior to the 2019 season, the Buffalo Bills knew they had to revamp their brutal offensive line. The club wasn’t shy about doing it, either. Among all those moves in free agency, the big, massive fish, was center Mitch Morse.
Since joining the Bills, it’s been steady as she goes for Morse, but now he’s getting some national spotlight. The NFL Wire pegged their top centers in the league this week, and Morse ranked as the 10th best center.
Here’s why, according writer Doug Farrar:
When Rodney Hudson left the Chiefs for the Raiders before the 2015 season, Kansas City responded by taking Morse in the second round of that year’s draft out of Missouri. Morse got a crash course in blocking at the highest level from Andy Reid and his staff — Reid has long been known as a master of offensive line technique, and line coach Andy Heck is equally highly-regarded — and that allowed Morse to accept a four-year, $44.5 million contract with the Bills in March, 2020. Smart move for the Bills, as Morse proved just as adept in Buffalo’s mobile quarterback-based offense as he had with the Chiefs. Morse allowed one sack, one quarterback hit, and 14 quarterback hurries for a quarterback in Josh Allen whose processing speed isn’t quite optimal yet. And when it was time for Allen to take off on designed runs… well, few centers are able to pull and block in space this adeptly.
The Bills knew the importance of getting Morse under contract in 2019. Speaking of Reid and his knowledge of centers and offensive lineman, who does Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott have a connection to via their time with the Eagles? Reid. So it came as no surprise that McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane felt it just to spend big on a center.
Blocking is overlooked but important, and among those overlooked, the one that is the most is the center. It’s Morse’s job to get everyone on the same page each and every snap, making calls at the line. As the kog that turns the O-line, Morse was thrust into a unit which had four brand new starters last season.
Buffalo’s new hope in 2020 is that all those guys, Morse, along with Dion Dawkins, Quinton Spain, Jon Feliciano and Cody Ford, can all continue to build on their chemistry which began forming last season. Make no mistake, this grouping was an average one by comparison to those around the league. But continuity is very important in the trenches, and the Bills have it.
And evidently one of the league’s top centers, too.
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