Ryan Bates isn't going anywhere. Ike Boettger is coming back for another year and the Buffalo Bills not only believe they will have a better offensive line in 2022 than in 2021, but know for certain they'll be paying less.
Bates, the restricted free agent who ascended to the starting left guard role near the end of last season, last Thursday signed an offer sheet with the Chicago Bears reportedly worth $17 million over four years, with nearly $9 million guaranteed, giving the Bears five days to match.
Bills general manager Brandon Beane finally responded on Monday at the NFL Meetings by telling reporters he planned to exercise his right to match the offer, keeping Bates locked in at a reasonable cost.
Then, just for good measure, the Bills re-signed guard Ike Boettger, who like Bates also has the versatility to play center.
Boettger had become an unresctricted free agent when his contract expired at the start of the NFL's new league year. He started 17 games for the Bills over the previous two seasons, including 10 in 2021, before going on the injured reserve list with a torn Achilles tendon that required surgery. The timetable for his return to full contact is not known.
A popular player who originally made the team as an undrafted free agent out of Iowa in 2018, Boettger will make the line more formidable because of his versatility after the Bills released former starting guards Daryl Williams and Jon Feliciano as salary cap casualties.
Had Bates departed, the Bills would have been starting over at both guard spots, with Saffold starting on the left side and Boettger, Mancz and Cody Ford battling for Williams' former job on the right side.
Instead, Bates now is the presumed starter, with all kinds of former starting experience backing up the interior spots.
The Bills also have Jacob Capra on the roster and are expected to add more offensive linemen in next month's NFL Draft.
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