Can this Senior Bowl invitee break into a solid offensive line grouping?
The Buffalo Bills tend to stockpile their offensive line with athletic prospects, not necessarily players who played at prestigious NCAA powerhouse programs. For general manager Brandon Beane, the traits take precedence over the pedigree, as he values athleticism and versatility while trusting his coaching staff to better players’ technique.
That strategy has worked well for Buffalo, as the team has built a stable of solid offensive linemen. Whether we’re talking about tackles, guards, centers, or players who can slot in anywhere, Buffalo has players who can contribute at the professional level regardless of where they played their college ball.
In today’s edition of “90 players in 90 days,” we discuss a rookie who is a little over a year removed from a major injury.
Name: Jacob Bayer
Number: 61
Position: C
Height/Weight: 6’3” 310 lbs.
Age: 22 (23 on 12/12/2025)
Experience/Draft: R; signed with Buffalo following the 2025 NFL Draft
College: Arkansas State
Acquired: UDFA signing
Financial situation (per Spotrac): Bayer signed a three-year contract worth $2.98 million in total. For the 2025 season, he carries a cap hit of $845,000 if he makes the 53-man roster. If he’s released, Buffalo will carry a dead-cap charge of $15,000.
2024 Recap: Bayer’s senior season began inauspiciously, as he tore his ACL during spring practice. While that would have led to a medical redshirt for most people, he miraculously made it back for Arkansas State’s second game, starting that contest and the next 11 games to equal his total number of games started from the prior year.
The fact that he was playing games just five months removed from a torn ACL makes his success all the more impressive, as Bayer was named Second-Team All-Sun Belt Conference, as well as a finalist for the Rimington Trophy. He was invited to participate in the Senior Bowl, as well.
While Bayer did not receive an invite to the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine, he displayed some serious strength at his Pro Day, benching 225 pounds a total of 32 times. That would have been better than all but one person at the combine (Cincinnati guard Luke Kandra, who did 33 reps at that weight).
Bayer’s speed and agility numbers weren’t very good, as he ran the three-cone drill in 8.01 seconds, did the 20-yard shuttle in 4.83 seconds. He ran the 40-yard dash in 5.2 seconds, and leapt 28” in the vertical jump and 8’6” in the broad jump. Knowing that he was doing all of those tests less than one year removed from ACL surgery does add context, however.
Positional outlook: Bayer is one of three centers listed on the roster. Kendrick Green and Sedrick Van Pran-Granger are the others. Note that starting center Connor McGovern is not listed as a center; however, as the team still calls him a guard.
2025 Offseason: Bayer is healthy and participating in offseason work to date.
2025 Season outlook: Lance Zierlein thinks that Bayer is a center-only player, which obviously limits him anywhere, but it especially limits him on a team like the Bills that puts versatility among its reserve linemen at high priority. That’s not to say that the Bills won’t try to cross-train Bayer at guard this summer — in fact, I assume they absolutely will try it — but if Zierlein’s scouting report is accurate, it could lead to some difficulties for Bayer in making the team.
The likelihood that Bayer makes the 53-man roster anyway is extremely slim, as the Bills return all of their main players from last season. If Bayer can show the ability to play guard, he has a chance at making the practice squad. Perhaps the Bills would consider keeping him on the practice squad anyway just so that they have a natural center available to them in case of injury. However, the practice squad is what I’d call Bayer’s best-case scenario this year in terms of sticking with Buffalo.