Wyatt Teller thought it would be cool to block Jags' Malik Jackson and now he has chance

Sal Maiorana | Democrat and Chronicle

Show Caption Hide Caption Buffalo Bills expect to start Josh Allen on Sunday Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott gives an update on the team from One Bills Drive.

Wyatt Teller was the Bills' fifth-round draft pick in 2018, No. 166 overall.

Teller made his first career NFL start in the Bills' 41-10 victory over the Jets on Nov. 4.

Teller played his college football at Virginia Tech, and is also a native of Virginia.

ORCHARD PARK – Come late Sunday afternoon, as he’s peeling off his equipment following the Buffalo Bills’ game with the Jaguars, rookie offensive guard Wyatt Teller sure hopes he isn’t ruing what he wished for.

Teller will be making the second start of his NFL career, and playing in just his third game, when Buffalo hosts Jacksonville at New Era Field and he’s going to have one tough assignment on his hands: trying to block stud Jaguars defensive tackle Malik Jackson.

Naturally, Teller has been studying film all week in preparation for Jackson, but he fortuitously had a head start on this dating to before the 2018 draft, months before the Bills selected him out of Virginia Tech in the fifth round.

“When I was in Atlanta training for the combine, I was with Jon Stinchcomb,” Teller recalled of his sessions with the former NFL offensive lineman who helps draft prospects prepare for the scouting combine and their pro days. “He pulled up some game film and we literally studied (Jackson) because he’s one of the best. So to me it’s like, wow, I was watching this guy thinking it would be really cool to block him one day, and here I am.”

Teller was laughing about this the other day, thinking out loud that maybe he should have been more careful regarding what he’d hoped for.

“He deserves all the praise,” Teller said of the 6-foot-5, 290-pound Jackson, a 2017 Pro Bowler and seven-year veteran who was a fifth-round pick of the Broncos and is now in his third season with the Jaguars sitting on 30 career sacks. “He’s a hard worker; you see it on film. His hands are impeccable. Malik is as athletic as they come so it’s kind of like, if you can block this guy you can block anybody.”

During the first half of this season, it wasn’t looking like Teller was going to get the chance to measure himself against Jackson because he was inactive for Buffalo’s first eight games.

However, with the Bills’ offensive line struggling in every way, coach Sean McDermott decided to shake things up when the Bills hosted the Bears. He allowed Teller to dress, and then he sent him in for left guard Vlad Ducasse and Teller played 17 offensive snaps in the 41-9 blowout loss.

Teller didn’t blow anyone away, but he showed enough to warrant the start against the Jets and he played all 73 snaps in the Bills’ 41-10 rout at the Meadowlands.

"Young player that got his first start playing alongside a second-year player with Dion (Dawkins) there," said McDermott. "Their ability to pair things up, communicate, establish the line of scrimmage was good to see. Having said that, there’s still a lot of work to do. As you know, when you put yourself on film, people start to get to know you a little bit. He’s got to continue to evolve in his game."

There were several factors that went into Buffalo’s sudden offensive explosion in New York after nine games of sheer futility. Much of the credit went to quarterback Matt Barkley, wide receivers Zay Jones and Robert Foster, running back LeSean McCoy, and the fact that the Jets looked like they quit after the second play from scrimmage.

Teller’s performance didn’t go unnoticed, though. The Jets were horrible that day, but they have some talented players in the front seven of their defense and Teller was rock solid, a clear upgrade over Ducasse, as the Bills rushed for a season-best 212 yards and Barkley was sacked only once on 26 dropbacks.

“He’s athletic and he’s tough,” offensive coordinator Brian Daboll said of the 6-foot-4, 314-pound Teller. “I think that’s a good combination to have as an offensive lineman. There’s always going to be growing pains with some younger players, but the guys that have good talent, that are smart, that are tough, that try to play the game the right way, that’s always a good thing, particularly up front.”

Not playing the game the right way in 2017 cost Teller a couple rounds in the draft. After a strong junior season at Virginia Tech that had draft gurus projecting him as a possible late second, early third-round pick, Teller admitted he let that go to his head and during the first half of his senior year, the quality of his play dipped precipitously.

“I’m not gonna regurgitate what everybody said about me but even watching film, it makes me sick,” he said. “There was a drop-off my senior year. If I kept the same intensity, kept the same mindset, I feel like, you know, I would have gone a little higher. Halfway through the season I was sick with myself, it was like I was in sim mode. That’s a mistake I made, I had to kind of pay for that and halfway through the season you saw a different player, but I think it was a little too late. People watched the first four games and they’re like, ‘Done. I don’t like him anymore.’”

The Bills had a different take. Assistant offensive line coach Andrew Dees went to privately work out Teller, and he saw a player who recognized how precious an opportunity he had to play in the NFL. Offensive line coach Juan Castillo agreed, and the Bills — having lost three-time Pro Bowl guard Richie Incognito – made the pick, No. 166 overall.

“A lot of teams passed on me. I was a fifth-round draft pick and that kind of put a chip on my shoulder,” he said. “But I wasn’t fooling anybody. I kind of knew where my place was so the biggest thing was getting on a team, go into training camp and then work hard. There’s a reason for everything. It’s kind of nice to be here now and to be proving myself and showing that my senior year was just a fluke and I’m not that kind of player.”

Barring injury, Teller will likely start the rest of the way as the Bills — with their playoff chances basically squelched at 3-7 — are in building mode for the future and Teller figures into the plan.

“They gave me an opportunity and that was really all I needed,” he said. “Everybody said I was a steal (in the draft), but to (the Bills), they thought, ‘Who knows what we’re going to get from this kid?’”

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Now it’s on Teller to show them they made the right decision to overlook what happened at the start of last season, to consider it a blip on the radar.

“I knew that I could get by with less so I kind of got complacent,” he said. “That’s one thing I write almost every day in my notebook, our play notebook. ‘Don’t be complacent, never relax, finish through the whistle because that’s what got you here.’ Ever since I was in first grade, 5 years old when I played little league youth football, I wanted to be in the NFL, so it’s a dream come true.”

MAIORANA@Gannett.com