PITTSFORD — The Buffalo Bills offensive linemen had a good chuckle watching guard David Edwards’ old high school tapes.
Edwards was nearly 100 pounds lighter then and he was a quarterback, dwarfing his entire offensive line. Now Bills offensive line coach Aaron Kromer is determined to track down Tylan Grable’s old high school tapes.
Like Edwards, Grable was a high school quarterback. Growing up in Gordon, a central Georgia town of about 1,700 people, Grable was a 6-foot-6, 230-pound high school quarterback.
He threw for 5,000 yards in his sophomore and junior seasons and missed his final year due to a broken foot. Grable’s lone scholarship offer was from Division II West Alabama.
Grable walked on at Jacksonville State as a tight end, but while redshirting his freshman year, he put on 30 pounds. Jacksonville State decided to move him to offensive tackle, where he became a standout good enough to transfer to Central Florida, where he became an all-conference player.
A sixth-round pick of the Bills in April, Grable is now battling for a roster spot, but when it comes to offensive line play, he’s still a baby. He’s just as inquisitive, soaking up whatever he can from Kromer or the veterans on the team.
“Once you learn the scheme, learn what plays go with what scheme, you just try to go ahead and drill that into your mind,” Grable said. “It gets easier once you get out on the field. That way you can just play; you play more free and not have to worry so much about thinking.”
Training Camp Takeaways: Bobby Babich, Terrel Bernard finding their groove as Bills defense shines
Going from quarterback to tight end to offensive tackle in little more than a year is a monumental shift, but the Jacksonville State coaches knew how to sell Grable on the position. Around the same time Grable moved to tackle, Tytus Howard was drafted by the Houston Texans in the first round.
Howard was a high school quarterback who went to Alabama State as a tight end and shifted to tackle, gaining 87 pounds to hit his 322-pound combine weight. Grable’s coaches told him he could be just like Howard and he was sold.
Bulking up took some time for Grable was listed at 240 pounds as a sophomore, jumping to 290 the following year. Grable didn’t have an issue with the first 50 pounds, but his weight gain stalled around 295, but eventually he found the right formula to hit 306 for the combine.
“It was just knowing my body,” Grable said. “Knowing a lot of what type of foods I needed to be eating and what times I needed to be doing it.”
Knowing what he needs to do enables Grable to ask for help. He spends time after practice each day, either working with Kromer on steps and also got a tutorial from reserve tackle Ryan Van Demark Sunday.
What Grable has been refining the most isn’t where to go, but how to get there. Athleticism won’t be enough to make up for technical mistakes in the NFL and that starts before the ball is snapped.
“Starting the play correctly, whether that’s a pass play and he’s getting a good pass set to start, and then from there, we can teach it,” Kromer said. “But like just starting to play, getting off on the snap quick enough, understanding where his eyes are so he can move efficiently and understand what to see and how to react. If your eyes are in the wrong spot, you end up moving slower than you want to move.”
It seemed Grable was a project destined to start his career on the practice squad at the start of minicamps, but he is progressing quickly. The key has been that when Jacksonville State moved him to tackle, they didn’t just have him learn one position.
Grable’s ability to play left or right will add value to his game when it’s time to make final cuts. He started training camp with the third-string offense, but quickly started getting reps with the second-team.
With Grable able to play right tackle, it allows the Bills to give veteran La’el Collins time at guard during practice. And on Monday, Grable played left tackle with the No. 2 offense, a spot normally occupied by Van Demark.
Van Demark is the team’s top reserve tackle, so getting time at right tackle in case starter Spencer Brown goes down with an injury is critical.
“He’s done a good job being versatile,” Kromer said. “He’s a good athlete, he’s smart, he learns fast and there’s always going to be things that come up for new guys. Like, ‘What should I do here? What should I do there?’ But he learns so quickly that he’s just adding and stacking days on days. So I’m impressed with what he’s done so far.”
Now roughly five years after moving to tackle, the 24-year-old is set to get his first taste of an NFL game when the Bills host the Chicago Bears at 1 p.m. Saturday to open the preseason.
“Obviously it’ll be the first NFL game and then just knowing that there’s something that we’ve all been wanting to do our whole life,” Grable said. “So I believe it is a combination of (nerves and excitement), but once you get out there on the field, you play ball.”