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USA Today
26-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
30 most important Bills players of 2025: No. 16 O'Cyrus Torrence
As the Buffalo Bills prepare for the 2025 NFL season, we'll take a look at the most important contributors on their roster. They have a ton of cornerstone players who will be returning for another shot at bringing a Lombardi Trophy to Buffalo, and they'll have help from some new additions as well. Leading up to the season, we will be counting down the top 30 most important players on the roster. We'll recap their 2024 season, look ahead to what they'll offer in 2025, and tackle the most pressing questions surrounding them this coming year. Next up on the countdown is O'Cyrus Torrence. Background Position: Guard Age at start of season: 25 Experience: Third year 2025 cap hit: $1,696,630 2024 recap O'Cyrus Torrence returned for his second year as a full-time starter at guard for the Bills in 2024. He's had back-to-back years with over 1,000 snaps played. He allowed zero sacks, but did allow 37 pressures according to Pro Football Focus. The Bills were ecstatic to draft him in the second round in 2023 after many experts expected him to be a late first rounder. 2025 outlook Torrence has locked down the right guard spot on the Bills offensive line, and he'll hope to experience a year-three leap in 2025 as he becomes even more comfortable with his offensive coordinator (Joe Brady) and offensive line coach (Aaron Kromer) both returning. He'll also have the same players lined up next to him as the entire Bills starting offensive line has returned for this coming year. Having perhaps the best sack-evading quarterback behind him makes his job easier. Biggest question: Can he become a future cornerstone of the o-line? While Torrence has started 33 regular season games and another five postseason games already in his short career, there is still room for improvement. According to PFF, he allowed the 131st-most pressures among 136 NFL guards and he committed the 114th-most penalties (7). The Bills are most likely looking for him to take a leap in 2025, and if he proves he can be more consistent, then he'll begin his case to stick around long term as a cornerstone piece next to right tackle Spencer Brown. 30 Most Important Bills of 2025 Check back as we continue to countdown on our list of the 30 most important Bills ahead of the 2025 season. No. 30 DT T.J. Sanders, No. 29 LB Dorian Williams, No. 28 DT Larry Ogunjobi, No. 27 Alec Anderson, No. 26 DE A.J. Epenesa, No. 25 DT DaQuan Jones, No. 24 TE Dawson Knox, No. 23 WR Elijah Moore, No. 22 WR Joshua Palmer, No. 21 S Cole Bishop, No. 20 K Tyler Bass, No. 19 WR Keon Coleman, No. 18 G David Edwards, No. 17 DE Joey Bosa.
New York Times
13-02-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Seahawks mock draft 1.0: O-line help, defensive playmakers and a QB flier
Welcome to the first Seahawks-specific mock draft of the 2025 offseason, where we'll try and identify short- and long-term answers for Seattle's many positions of need. The official draft order will depend on compensatory picks, which won't be announced until March, so Seattle's Day 3 selections below are based on projections. Future mocks will feature trades, but for this first one, we'll just project selections based on where Seattle is currently slotted to pick. Advertisement It has unofficially become an annual tradition to mock an interior offensive lineman to the Seahawks in the first round of the draft. In 2023, my final mock had Seattle selecting O'Cyrus Torrence, now the starting right guard for the Buffalo Bills. Last year, my final mock projected Graham Barton to Seattle; he's the starting center for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Seahawks selected four interior linemen in those two drafts, all in the third round or later: guard Anthony Bradford (fourth round, 2023), center Olu Oluwatimi (fifth round, 2023), guard Christian Haynes (third round, 2024) and guard Sataoa Laumea (sixth round, 2024). Oluwatimi is the only one who has made a decent case to be a starter in 2025, and even then, an upgrade probably wouldn't be hard to find. GO DEEPER The Seahawks must fix their offensive line. Here's where they might start Seattle's front office is aware of the team's need for quality interior offensive linemen but has not shown a willingness to invest a Day 1 draft pick. This strategy can be successful, as the two Super Bowl participants this year (and in 2022) have demonstrated. A team doesn't have to use first-round picks to find quality interior line play. But if you are going to roll with that strategy, the hit rate on the non-premium selections must be high. That hasn't been the case for Seattle, thus a pivot to a new strategy in 2025. That's where Booker comes in. Listed 6-foot-5 and 325 pounds, he was a multiyear starter at Alabama, which of course plays in a conference with some of the best competition in the nation. He was voted a second-team All-American by the Associated Press and several other publications, including The Athletic's college football staff. My new film room with former Alabama OG Tyler Booker is up. Here's a preview showing off his ability to widen a run lane and finish on the frontside of a counter run using excellent play strength and power. — Brandon Thorn (@BrandonThornNFL) February 7, 2025 In a class full of tackle-guard hybrids, Booker might be the best true guard prospect (our Dane Brugler, who ranked him No. 18 in his Top 100, mocked Booker to the Texans with the 25th pick). He makes obvious sense for the Seahawks, who could use his play strength in the run game and his anchor in pass protection. Advertisement Under general manager John Schneider, the Seahawks haven't drafted a guard-only prospect in the first round, but perhaps deviating from that strategy is just what the team needs. The Seahawks have used a second-round pick on an edge rusher in three of the last five drafts. And one of their richest free-agent contracts in recent years went to Uchenna Nwosu, who was a second-round pick of the Chargers in 2018. The results have been good. Darrell Taylor, Boye Mafe, Derick Hall and Nwosu all have had at least eight sacks in a season within the last three years. However, none has had more than 9.5, which is what Nwosu and Taylor reached in 2022. Seattle splurged on an additional pass rusher in March 2023 with the $51 million contract for Dre'Mont Jones, but since he's due to count $25.6 million against the cap this year, he could be released or traded as a cap-saving measure. Between a potential Jones release and Nwosu playing just 12 games over the last two seasons, Seattle has reason to use another top-50 pick on an edge rusher. Umanmielen is 6-4 and 264 pounds with long arms and the ability to win in multiple ways when rushing the quarterback, which is how he racked up 10.5 sacks last season at Ole Miss. He had a decent showing at the Senior Bowl, too, which likely matters to the Seahawks. Riley (5-10, 192 pounds) had a productive final season at Louisville, where he totaled 13 passes defended with a pair of interceptions. He had 12 pass breakups and three interceptions the year before. He brought those same ball skills to the Senior Bowl, where he turned heads in one-on-one action. Dane Brugler listed Riley as one of his Senior Bowl standouts writing, in part: 'The Louisville product consistently stayed in phase with receivers and did a great job turning his head or reading the eyes of the receiver to make plays on the ball.' Great rep from CB Quincy Riley. Patient, no panic, contest the back shoulder. — Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) January 28, 2025 Once the Seahawks' lineup got settled in the second half of the season, the primary outside cornerbacks were Riq Woolen and Josh Jobe. Woolen is entering the final year of his rookie contract, and Jobe is a restricted free agent. So, cornerback isn't an urgent need, but it's a position Seattle can try an upgrade for the 2025 season with an eye toward 2026. GO DEEPER 2025 NFL Draft Big Board: Who are the top 100 prospects in this year's class? The Seahawks don't have their own fourth-round pick because of the trade to acquire linebacker Ernest Jones IV from the Titans. However, Nick Korte of Over the Cap projects Seattle will receive a compensatory pick from the loss of guard Damien Lewis last offseason. If that turns out to be the case, the selection would land in the back of the fourth round. Advertisement Slater (6-2, 320 pounds) is a small-school prospect who performed well at the Senior Bowl, which is a great way to get on Schneider's radar. He's also one of the prospects NFL analyst Brandon Thorn mentioned to me when discussing possible center options for Seattle. There will almost always be questions about FCS players when it comes to handling bigger, stronger and more athletic players, but it sounds like Slater checked a lot of those boxes in Mobile. He should be able to compete with Oluwatimi and any veteran center the Seahawks sign in the offseason while also providing depth at guard, his primary position in college. Once again, the Seahawks don't have their own pick in this round, this time due to the trade in 2023 to acquire defensive tackle Leonard Williams. Over the Cap projects Seattle will receive a compensatory fifth-rounder for the loss of linebacker Jordyn Brooks last offseason. This feels like an 'eye of the beholder' quarterback class outside the top few prospects, so there's no telling where productive but flawed passers like Ewers will end up. My guess is that he ends up being available in this range because he doesn't have high-end traits such as a big arm or elite athleticism. Seattle still has Sam Howell, who turns 25 in September, under contract for another season, but he didn't show anything in 2024 that should stop the Seahawks from taking a Day 3 swing on another quarterback. Ewers had some promising moments in some big games while at Texas, and his ability to get the ball out quickly while attacking the intermediate areas of the field is worth taking a flier on. Seattle sent its original sixth-round pick to the Jaguars for outside linebacker Trevis Gipson, but prior to that, it received a sixth-round pick from the Bears in the Darrell Taylor trade. Jackson measured 6-6 and 339 pounds at the Senior Bowl, where he flashed some decent movement skills for a guy his size. Seattle has a pair of impending free-agent defensive tackles in Jarran Reed and Johnathan Hankins. Even if one is re-signed, Seattle should still search for depth in the middle, as the Day 3 selection of Cameron Young in 2023 hasn't panned out. Advertisement Over the Cap projects the Seahawks will have a compensatory pick in this round for the loss of linebacker Bobby Wagner last offseason. Reed is a versatile safety who did a little of everything at Penn State, where he totaled 98 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, one forced fumble and three interceptions (one of which he returned for a touchdown) in 2024. Seattle has a solid safety duo in Julian Love (27 years old next season) and Coby Bryant (26), though the latter is entering the final year of his rookie deal. Seattle's other safeties are K'Von Wallace (free agent), Rayshawn Jenkins (potential cap-saving release), Ty Okada (practice squad) and 2023 sixth-round pick Jerrick Reed II, who ended the year on injured reserve for the second straight season. If the Seahawks roll the dice on a Day 3 receiver in this draft, they should probably target someone with speed to be a deep threat in Klint Kubiak's offense. If the team moves on from Tyler Lockett due to his $30.8 million cap number, the roster won't feature any other guys who can fly outside of DK Metcalf and Dareke Young, and the latter hasn't done much since joining the team as a seventh-round pick in 2022. Prather is 6-3 and 209 pounds and was among the fastest players at the Shrine Bowl. He caught 56 passes for just 624 yards and four touchdowns last year at Maryland, but a guy his size who can run and make plays at multiple levels of the field is likely going to be an attractive Day 3 option regardless of his stats. (Photos of Quinn Ewers, left, and Tyler Booker: Jerome Miron, Gary Cosby Jr. / Imagn Images)
