Buffalo Bills right tackle Spencer Brown has come a long way since his rookie season, and now he’s staying in Orchard Park for the long term. A third-round pick in 2021, Brown signed a four-year extension Friday with the team that drafted him to remain under contract through the 2028 season.
The right tackle initially took over the starting job in Week 4 of his rookie year, and when healthy enough to play, he’s remained the every-week starter over the last three seasons. Brown has started 41 games throughout his career, including all 17 in the regular season and both playoff games in 2023.
Brown, 26, was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in March of 2025 without a new contract. Financial terms of the deal have yet to be made available.
Since coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane arrived in 2017, their marquee moniker has been to draft, develop and retain their own. They’ve done so numerous times throughout the years, and Brown will pair with left tackle Dion Dawkins for the foreseeable future in protecting franchise quarterback Josh Allen.
Staying in Buffalo‼️
We’ve signed Spencer Brown to a four-year contract extension through 2028. #BillsMafia pic.twitter.com/0Xm6HhrY77
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) September 6, 2024
Bills’ patience in Brown pays off
The 2023 season was the first time in Brown’s NFL career that he entered the year without any offseason surgeries.
The full health helped him go through a full offseason program, leading to a third-season breakout. His performance near the end of the year and into the playoffs likely was a huge reason for the Bills investing in a new deal with their right tackle.
Over their final six games, playoffs included, Brown allowed only one sack. In the playoffs, he allowed only one pressure on 79 pass-blocking snaps, according to TruMedia. His quickness also helped him become a force as a pulling blocker on rushing attempts.
But that was only possible due to the Bills exhibiting patience in the athletic 6-foot-8, 311-pound offensive lineman. There were calls from many outside the building throughout the 2023 offseason for the Bills to draft or sign a replacement.
Brown’s play was the reason for the offseason rhetoric, but the team remained steadfast in their belief in him. When asked about it, the Bills were sometimes defiant in their defense of Brown as the starting right tackle. Part of that may have been fueled by the Bills giving up too early on an offensive lineman prospect in the past when they dealt guard Wyatt Teller to Cleveland in 2019, and it coming back to bite them.
Offensive tackle is settled through 2025 at least
Brown is the second in-house extension they’ve issued to an offensive tackle, with Dawkins, whom the team inked to a deal in March. Dawkins’ extension technically expires in 2027, his age-33 season, but now, with some hefty cap hits for Brown on the way, it increases the chances that the tackle pairing may only be together for the next two seasons.
Dawkins has a $31.3 million cap hit in 2025, but more importantly, releasing him would add an extra $11.3 million to his original cap hit. That means Dawkins is very likely not going anywhere next season. The Bills have a natural out in 2026, his age-32 season where they could save $13.6 million to release Dawkins.
It may coincide with a big bump in Brown’s cap hits, with how the Bills have generally structured their past contract extensions. But at least for the next two years, the Bills have their offensive tackle situation dealt with in front of Allen.
Slight risk in the re-signing?
The Bills saw everything they wanted to see out of Brown in the 2023 season, though it was a bit of a bumpy road to get to that point. The right tackle struggled as a rookie in 2021 and then needed offseason back surgery, impacting his 2022 season.
In those two years, Brown had a pressure allowed rate of 6.5 percent, according to TruMedia. The only two Bills offensive linemen with a worse rate over those two seasons were Cody Ford and David Quessenberry.
Brown’s rate improved to 4.9 percent in 2023, and his playoff pressure allowed rate was an outstanding 1.3 percent over those two games. With this long-term extension, the Bills are banking on a smaller sample size of big production, which is a slightly risky proposition.
Despite playing every game in 2023, Brown needed offseason shoulder surgery ahead of his fourth year. It remains to be seen if that will impact him in games in 2024.
Required reading
(Photo: Sarah Stier / Getty Images)
