ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — If the Buffalo Bills didn’t make it clear in Thursday night’s first round that their offense needed the most attention in the NFL draft, they certainly drove the point home in the second round Friday night.
Less than 24 hours after selecting Utah tight end Dalton Kincaid, the Bills chose offensive guard O’Cyrus Torrence from Florida.
The message from General Manager Brandon Beane is clear: Forget the notion that defense was what primarily caused the Bills to stumble out of the playoffs in each of the past four seasons. The Bills did add Tulane linebacker Dorian Williams in the third round (91st overall pick) on Friday night, though he figures to primarily contribute on special teams if he makes the squad.
It's hard to deny the Bills are all in on the idea that if they’re to finally get over the hump and into the Super Bowl, they’ll do so by making an already strong offense even stronger. That said, Beane chalked up the draft strategy to a case of merely "following the board."
"It think, with the first two picks, the offensive guy was clearly the best player, so you really didn't look (at defense)," Beane said.
They want Kincaid to give them a bigger slot target that will allow Josh Allen to do a better job of attacking the middle of the field. They want Torrence to bring a much-needed upgrade to their pass protection.
Allen was on the run too often last season, especially in the Bills' divisional-round playoff loss against Cincinnati last January. During the NFL Scouting Combine last February, coach Sean McDermott reiterated a concern he shares with Beane: Allen must do less running and do more to protect himself.
Though the Bills signed two guards in free agency, Connor McGovern and David Edwards, they couldn’t resist the opportunity to select one of the draft’s best players at the position with the 59th overall choice. Besides going 698 offensive snaps with the Gators without allowing a sack or a quarterback hit and not being penalized, per Pro Football Focus, Torrence also impressed scouts with his power, physical style of play and explosiveness.
“I’m really looking forward to blocking for Josh Allen,” the 6-foot-5, 330-pound Torrence told reporters. “What offensive lineman doesn’t want to do that?”
Torrence spent three seasons at Louisiana before transferring to Florida last season. In starting 11 games for the Gators, he became their first offensive guard to be named a Consensus All-American. That’s saying plenty considering the elevated level of competition Torrence faced in the Southeastern Conference.
When the Bills called Torrence to inform him he was their pick, he said his “heart began beating really fast.”
It’s fair to say that there was likely similar excitement in the Bills’ draft room, seeing a player that some analysts thought would be gone late in the first round was still available.
It's also fair to say that the Bills didn't see any particular urgency in taking steps to improve their pass rush or fill the hole created at middle linebacker by the free-agency departure of Tremaine Edmunds. They'll count on Greg Rousseau and other younger defensive linemen to step up to the challenge of performing better, while counting on Von Miller to make an early and full recovery from the major knee injury he suffered on Thanksgiving. Fifth-year veteran Tyrel Dodson and last year's third-round choice, Terrel Bernard, will compete to be Edmunds' replacement.
"We feel very good (about the defense)," Beane said. "We did have some injuries in various spots. We feel some guys will play better this year, another year in the system, another year in the NFL, just continuing to mature. We're counting on more consistency and more from them.
"So, we're excited about that."