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Although they technically had two days left to decide, ESPN’s Adam Caplan reports that the Buffalo Bills have matched the Los Angeles Rams’ offer of 2-years, $5 million for RFA C Ryan Groy:
#Bills are matching RFA offer from Rams for OL Ryan Groy, source told ESPN.
— Adam Caplan (@caplannfl) March 16, 2017
This means that by rule Groy is now under the Bill’s control, and the Rams will not have the opportunity to make a second offer. Very likely the Rams will still be in the market for a veteran center, as the only other center on the roster is Demetrius Rhaney. Some possible stop-gap options at this point include C John Sullivan and C Joe Berger.
Groy would have been a nice addition, since he was already familiar with OL Coach Aaron Kromer and performed well in place of injured C Eric Woods. But after offering him $3.5 million guaranteed, there’s not much more the Rams could have done.
Technically, the Rams COULD offer the Bills a draft pick (or picks) for Groy, but that is unlikely to happen. It is better for the Rams to focus on finding their center of the future in the upcoming draft, especially with Goff entering his second year and a new staff at the helm. Some possible options include Ohio State’s Pat Elflein and LSU’s Ethan Pocic.