Getty Greg Mancz looks on before an NFL game.
The Buffalo Bills are boosting their offensive line depth ahead of their divisional-round playoff game against the Cincinnati Bengals on January 22.
The Bills announced on Thursday that they signed 30-year-old center Greg Mancz to the practice squad and placed offensive lineman Alec Anderson on the practice squad injured reserve. The move adds some veteran depth to the line and brings back a player who spent the first two months of the season with the Bills.
Bills Add Depth Behind Mitch Morse
As Nick Wojton of USA Today’s Bills Wire noted, Mancz is very familiar to Buffalo. The Bills signed him last spring, and he was added to the practice squad after the end of training camp. Mancz appeared in one game for the Bills this season, playing 23 snaps against the Miami Dolphins in a September 25 game that saw a spate of injuries to the offensive line.
The Bills released Mancz in November, and he went on to spend time with the Cleveland Browns and Minnesota Vikings, who released him last week.
Bills Sign C Greg Mancz To Practice Squad t.co/Vcm6FK45Fx
The veteran center spent the first six seasons of his career with the Houston Texans, starting all 16 games of the 2016 season. He played for the Dolphins last season before signing with the Bills in the offseason. He has appeared in 65 games over the course of his career, starting 32 of them.
While Mancz is not expected to play against the Bengals on Sunday, he can provide some depth for starting center Mitch Morse, who lost time due to a concussion near the end of the season.
Bills Ready for Showdown With Bengals
Mancz’s signing will be one of the final roster moves before the Bills go on to their biggest game of the season, a Sunday matchup with the Bengals with the prospect of hosting the AFC Championship Game if they win.
The Bills will be hosting their second divisional-round playoff game in the last three seasons, but just the first time they will play before a stadium full of fans since 1994. The Bills defeated the Baltimore Ravens at home in the divisional round in 2021, but the game was played in front of a little more than 6,000 fans as the state of New York was just beginning to lift COVID-19 restrictions on events.
The Bills have faced more adversity this season, from a blizzard that forced them to move a home game to Detroit in November to safety Damar Hamlin’s collapse against the Bengals in Week 17.
QB1 so smooth. 😂
Quarterback Josh Allen spoke about the difficult season this week, saying the adversity has helped the team come together.
“I think it gives you a more sturdy foundation. The more struggle, the more adversity that you can see over the course of the year, it just makes you stronger,” Allen said, via John Wawrow of The Associated Press. “We’ve been in some really weird situations this year that not a lot of teams maybe have ever gone through. Being able to have that under our belts, understand those emotions in those situations, and just try to use it to our advantage.”
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Bills Bring Back Veteran OL Ahead of Divisional Round Game