Vikings put pressure on Bills with offer sheet for offensive lineman

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Vikings put pressure on Bills with offer sheet for offensive lineman

Sal Maiorana, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle · Democrat and Chronicle

Wed, Mar 18, 2026 ·

4 min read

How Ryan Van Demark fits into the Bills' offensive line

Offensive tackle Ryan Van Demark could be leaving the Bills if he accepts an offer sheet from the Vikings.

Of course, even if the Bills decline to match, there is a chance Van Demark says no to the Vikings because he wouldn't necessarily be going to a better situation there. After joining the Bills as an undrafted free agent in 2022 and spending that season on the practice squad, Van Demark earned a roster spot in 2023 as the swing tackle backing up Dion Dawkins and Spencer Brown .

He has remained in that role ever since and while his playing time has been limited, he has started six of the 43 games he has appeared in for Buffalo, either as an injury replacement for Dawkins or Brown, or because the Bills were resting those players in Week 18 games.

If he stays in Buffalo, he will compete for the swing role and based on the current roster, the competition will be Tylan Grable , Chase Lundt and Travis Clayton , though the Bills could add someone in the draft.

Vikings offers a similar situation for Van Demark

If he goes to the Vikings, he'll be in a similar situation because Christian Darrisaw and Brian O'Neill are an established tackle duo, playing together as starters ever since Darrisaw joined the team as a first-round draft pick in 2021. That's the exact situation Buffalo has - Brown and Dawkins together since Brown was picked in the third round in 2021.

Van Demark will have to decide if the extra $700,000 or so is worth leaving Buffalo, a place and a team that he has become so familiar with.

Restricted free agents are players with three years of accrued seasons in the NFL who can negotiate with other teams, but their own team can retain them in three ways.

Here is how the NFL explains each:

First-round tender: One-year contract worth the greater of either $8.107 million or 110 percent of the player's prior-year base salary. If the player's original team decides not to match an offer sheet signed with another team, it is entitled to a first-round draft pick from his new team. Unless received two days or later prior to the NFL Draft, draft compensation for each tender is due in the same league year as the offer sheet is signed.

Second-round tender: One-year contract worth the greater of either $5.811 million or 110 percent of the player's prior-year base salary. The draft choice compensation is a second-round pick.

Original-round tender: One-year contract worth the greater of either $3.674 million or 110 percent of the player's prior-year base salary. Draft-choice compensation is a pick in the round the player was originally drafted in, but because Van Demark was an undrafted player, the Bills would receive nothing in return, so it would be just as if he was leaving via unrestricted free agency.

Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for more than four decades including 37 years as the full-time beat writer/columnist for the D&C. He has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.