The Buffalo Bills had guard David Edwards depart in free agency for a $15 million per year deal with the New Orleans Saints earlier this month.
Currently slated to replace him as the starting left guard on the team’s depth chart is former 2022 undrafted free agent, Alec Anderson, who has just 6 total starts over the course of his NFL career.
As a result, the Bills have signed three players to one-year deals – including two former starting offensive linemen in guard Austin Corbett and center Lloyd Cushenberry.
🏈G/C Austin Corbett 🏈C Lloyd Cushenberry III 🏈WR Trent Sherfield
Bills Add Two Former Starting Interior Offensive Linemen
“Bills signed three free agents to one-year contracts”, Adam Schefter wrote on X on Thursday afternoon.
“G/C Austin Corbett
C Lloyd Cushenberry III
WR Trent Sherfield“
Cushenberry was a cap casualty for the Tennessee Titans after two years with the franchise, whom he signed with on a hefty four-year $50 million deal. Corbett, on the other hand was one of the later pure free agents – i.e. one whose contract with his former employers, the Carolina Panthers, was simply not extended – to be picked up.
And the former Panther was also once a highly priced free agent, having signed with Carolina on a three year $29 million deal back in 2022.
The pair will immediately both be contenders to start on the left hand side of the Bills’ offensive line heading into the offseason.
Cushenberry and Corbett Both Lost Form In Recent Years
If this news came a couple of years earlier, Bills fans would be imagining that the franchise had finally landed their starting guard and center combination of the medium-term future.
Alas, both players have disappointed over the past two seasons. Cushenberry only managed eight games in 2024 before suffering a season-ending Achilles injury, and since his return in 2025 has not been the same caliber of player the Titans gave a guaranteed $26 million to back in March ’24.
Similarly, Corbett did not impress in 2025. The former second round draft pick struggled in the run game in particular, and ultimately failed to regain the starting center role from now highly-paid Detroit Lions pivot Cade Mays – although he did fill in at guard in lieu of Robert Hunt who suffered a torn biceps injury that kept him out from Week 2 until the Wild Card matchup against the Los Angeles Rams in January 2026.
Who Will Be the Starting Left Guard in Buffalo?
The Bills have had one of the best offensive line units in football over the past two seasons, with much of that having to with consistency: the same five were broadly on the field together for the grand majority of the past two years.
None of the four mainstays; tackles Dion Dawkins and Spencer Brown along with IOLs Connor McGovern and O’Cyrus Torrence; are going anywhere anytime soon, so it would appear that at best one of Cushenberry or Corbett will end up filling in at left guard.
With the high standards of Buffalo’s protection and run-blocking, both will have to show significant improvements from the play they demonstrated with their most recent franchises over the past year if they want to have a chance at beating out Anderson, fellow IOL Sedrick Van Pran-Granger or any rookie at the position the Bills may select next month in the draft.
Bills Add Former $79 Million Offensive Line Duo