Buffalo Bills make Mitch Morse the NFL’s highest-paid center
By Matt Conner
The Kansas City Chiefs have lost their first major free agent with the news that starting center Mitch Morse has inked a deal with the Buffalo Bills.
The Buffalo Bills are looking for ways to strengthen the offensive line in front of second-year starter Josh Allen, and they’ve reached out to a former member of the Kansas City Chiefs to anchor the center of that line in Mitch Morse.
The Bills will sign Morse, a free agent, to a new contract when free agency becomes official, winning the sweepstakes for one of the best centers on the open market (along with Matt Paradis). The deal will make him the highest paid center in the NFL, at least for the moment, with an average of just over $11 million per season for four years, per Mike Garafolo.
Morse was the Chiefs second-round pick in the 2015 NFL Draft and stepped right into the shadow left by Rodney Hudson, who left in free agency to go to the Oakland Raiders. Morse has been entrenched as the starting center ever since and has been a non-nonsense performer in every possible way.
The only downside to Morse at this point is his injury history, specifically dealing with multiple concussions in his NFL career. He missed several games last season due to a concussion, once again, and the Bills will have to hope he’s able to stay clean from any further head concerns or hits.
That said, the Bills now have a starting center who has yet to turn 27-years-old and should be counted upon to man the middle for several years.
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As for the Chiefs, they now turn their attention to Austin Reiter, a backup who was given a recent contract extension. It also wouldn’t surprise anyone if the Chiefs also drafted some additional interior help for the sake of competition and depth.