The Buffalo Bills made 10 picks in the 2024 NFL Draft, and we know second-round picks like wide receiver Keon Coleman and safety Cole Bishop are going to play a big role in the team's 2024 NFL season. However, there's a good chance at least one of the seven picks the team made on Day 3 also becomes a major contributor. With that in mind, here is why former Georgia center Sedrick Van Pran-Granger is the most likely Bills rookie sleeper to make an impact this coming season.
Bills rookie Sedrick Van Pran-Granger is a key to the 2024 season
The Bills underwent a major roster overhaul this offseason. After nearly a half-decade of AFC East dominance, Buffalo stalwarts like Stefon Diggs, Gabe Davis, Mitch Morse, Jordan Poyer, Tre'Davious White, and Micah Hyde are gone.
These departures gave the Bills very specific needs in the 2024 NFL Draft, and the team addressed these needs with their first two picks. Coleman will immediately step in as the team's top target, replacing Diggs and Davis, while Bishop will likely start next to Taylor Rapp with Poyer and Hyde gone.
After that, general manager Brandon Beane added to position groups of strength by taking Duke defensive tackle DeWayne Carter in Round 3 and Kentucky running back Ray Davis in Round 4.
In Round 5, the Bills again looked for a direct replacement for a longtime starter who left this Spring, and the team took Georgia center Sedrick Van Pran-Granger.
The New Orleans native arrived in Athens in 2020 and spent one season as a backup before taking over snapping duties for the Bulldogs for the next three seasons. While anchoring the Georgia offensive line, Van Pran-Granger didn't miss any of his next 44 starts and helped his team win back-to-back national championships.
Van Pran-Granger isn't the perfect NFL center prospect. if he was, he wouldn't have lasted until the fifth round. He has decent size at 6-foot-4, 298 pounds but his arms are a little shorter (31 3/8 inches) than talent evaluators would like and, at times, he has sloppy footwork and technique. Still, he is an Iron Man and the type of tough, feisty player you want in the middle of your line.
And the former Georgia center should get a real chance to compete to start in the middle of that line in training camp.
Currently, the Bills have Connor McGovern, a guard by trade who started all 17 gameds there last season, penciled-in as their starting center. The former Penn State Nitany Lion did play center in college and that was his listed position when the Dallas Cowboys took him in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft. However, he's played almost exclusively at guard in the pros.
After that, Will Clapp is also on the roster. Clapp is a true center, but he's a backup-caliber player. The six-year NFL veteran has started just 21 of the 65 games he's dressed for.
The Bills have to hope that Sedrick Van Pran-Granger wins the starting job in camp for several reasons. One is that, if he does, then McGovern and David Edwards can have a competition for the starting left guard spot. Making sure the better player wins that position will make the BUffalo O-line better.
Additionally, if Van Pran-Gramger does become the starting C, the Bills could have 2/5 of their offensive line locked down for the next decade with him and last year's second-round selection, O'Cyrus Torrence at right guard. Add in Dion Dawkins at left tackle who just turned 30, and VPG, Torrence and Dawkins could be together for at least the next five seasons.
Josh Allen pretty much only took snaps from Mitch Morse for the last five seasons, and the superstar QB recently said it will be weird getting the ball from somebody else. While that somebody else may be McGovern this season, don't be surprised if it is Sedrick Van Pran-Granger instead, as the fifth-round is the Bills rookie sleeper to make an impact in the 2024 NFL season.
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