Buffalo Bills signing of Richie Incognito a necessary evil

The Buffalo Bills were surprisingly worse at running the ball than they were at passing it despite having Kyle Orton as their quarterback for much of the season, as Orton exceeded expectations by generally doing a credible job of leading the offense. On the other hand, the Bills completely struggled to run the ball, as none of their four running backs (C.J. Spiller, Fred Jackson, Bryce Brown, or Anthony Dixon) could average 4.2 yards per carry, as Dixon led the team with a slightly below-average mark of 4.1.

That’s a reflection of how awful the Bills offensive line was last season, as they made new additions that weren’t able to elevate the team’s play up front. Rookie Seantrel Henderson has potential but took expected lumps, shock 2014 signing Chris Williams was as subpar as most of us expected, and rookie Cyril Richardson looked out of place.

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Coming into the offseason, offensive line looked like the Bills second-biggest need behind quarterback, and they have already made a move to boost the overall play of their line in 2015. It isn’t a big signing, but everyone knows who this new guard, who will most likely start, is.

The NFL Network’s Jeff Darlington reports that Richie Incognito has officially joined the Bills after receiving major interest from Rex Ryan’s new team. It will be Incognito’s second stint with the Bills after spending a year with them back in 2009, and it will be interesting to see if the 31-year-old can hang around for more than one year.

It would be a shock if the Bills gave Incognito any guaranteed money or anything more than a one-year deal, because Incognito is lucky to have a team to play for after all of the trouble he’s caused in his career, particularly as a member of the rival Miami Dolphins. Some would say that Ryan’s coaching style is conducive to undisciplined players going off, but I don’t agree with this notion.

No, someone like Joe Philbin, who weirdly chooses not to defend starting quarterbacks and shows no aggression or idea of how his locker room operates, can cause that sort of a mess to happen. Ryan is too hands-on and open, so hopefully that causes him to give Incognito a short leash.

In any case, hopefully Incognito is motivated to hold off on his antics, because he’ll be out of the league if he screws up a second time. It’s why I think the Bills decision shouldn’t cause much of an outrage; as long as there’s no guaranteed money here, there’s no risk here. If Incognito shockingly tries to undermine the locker room, then he’s done, but the fact of the matter is that even he should realize how important it is to get it right when presented with this second opportunity.

For the Buffalo Bills, the Incognito signing is important since it gives them an upgrade at a position where they had major issues at last season. Williams, Richardson, Erik Pears, and Kraig Urbik were among the players to start at guard last season, and all four of them struggled. In fact, only franchise left tackle Cordy Glenn played well, but, as a whole, the Bills may have been the NFL’s worst run blocking team, giving their quartet of backs no chance.

Incognito is not a great player by any means, but he’s worth the potential character issues due to his solid ability. Unless if the year off has really had a profound impact on his play, Incognito should still be a decent starter in this league, and that would be a massive upgrade for a team that played some of the worst-performing guards of the 2014 season. Incognito’s mean streak, strength, and toughness make him a quality run blocker, and that’s exactly what the Bills need at this point.

It would be premature to state that the Bills can get away with no longer going for upgrades on the offensive line, but consider the Richie Incognito both a necessary evil and a preemptive strike to upgrade a key need before the start of free agency. It will be interesting to take a look at the financial details, but it would be a big surprise for this deal to involve any risk, other than the character concerns that would immediately get the veteran guard cut anyway. Incognito has no upside at this stage of his career, but all the Bills wanted was a guard with a solid track record of success; he checks that box off for them.

Considering the timing of the move, it appears that Ryan immediately identified guard as one of his biggest needs upon being hired as the head coach of the team, and it sounds like the whole organization realized that they had to add someone who can plug-n-play there in 2015. It’s a bit of a red flag that the OL-desperate Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn’t sign him during the regular season, but, again, there’s no risk here, assuming the Bills are wise enough to stick to a one-year, un-guaranteed deal with presumably no other teams interested in Incognito’s services.

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