Sal Maiorana

@salmaiorana

It appears that rookie Seantrel Henderson is going to play right tackle for the Bills.

Erik Pears is the latest offensive lineman to try a new position as he's been moved to right guard.

Center Eric Wood is the only member of the line who hasn't played a second position in camp.

Continuity is one of those buzzwords that people in sports like to throw around when trying to determine whether a team is jelling (another buzzword) and getting on the same page (oops, there's another).

It's that way with NFL offensive lines, starting five's in basketball, forward lines in hockey, even double play duos in baseball. The longer you play together, the theory goes, the better you'll perform as a team.

Bills coach Doug Marrone isn't particularly interested so much in continuity as he is performance, at least in terms of Buffalo's jumbled, ever-changing offensive line.

"The continuity thing that people kind of harp on, the question is would you rather have continuity and not play as well, or would you rather have your best five out there and give them a shot and continuity will be created as we play. My philosophy has always been the best five."

That's what this training camp at St. John Fisher College, which wraps up Thursday afternoon after a one-month run, has been all about for the Bills' offensive line.

Marrone has thrown together more combinations than an MMA fighter. From day to day you never knew who was going to be blocking on the first unit, nor where they were lining up.

Eric Wood has been the one constant, the center for every rep he has taken. Everyone else has become a utility man, learning multiple positions in the search for the best group, and to find the most versatile players who will give the coaching staff options if injuries crop up.

Wednesday, the first unit consisted of Cordy Glenn at left tackle, Chris Williams at left guard, Wood at center, Erik Pears at right guard, and Seantrel Henderson at right tackle.

Pears has also been at right tackle, Henderson has played left tackle, and Williams has played right guard. Behind them, Kraig Urbik and Doug Legursky have each played both guard positions and center, Cyril Richardson has played both guard spots, Cyrus Kouandjio has played both tackle positions, and Antoine McClain and Chris Hairston have played guard and tackle.

"What I'm trying to do is figure out who is the best five in all the different positions," said Marrone. "What I don't want to do is have my fifth-best lineman be a backup because one guy doesn't play a position. I want to make sure we can get the best five players out there."

All the shuffling has created some sloppiness up front as players are learning on the fly, but as far as quarterback EJ Manuel is concerned, it hasn't affected what he needs to do. When he breaks the huddle, he doesn't really care which five guys are in front of him, so long as they do their jobs.

"I'm never going to worry about who is out there," he said. "If we're out there we have to go play, so I'm not going to be worried about a personnel guy. I trust that coach Pat (Morris, the offensive line coach) knows if he's going to be in the game, trust that he knows what to do."

Running back C.J. Spiller, who, like Manuel, needs the line to do its job so he can do his, is equally as nonplused as Manuel about all the experimenting.

"I have to trust whoever is up there that they're going to get their job done," said Spiller. "At the same time, we as running backs have to make sure we're helping them out with our correct steps, our reads, not cutting it back too early, and making sure we're in the right position."

The most recent configuration may end up being the one the Bills open the season with in Chicago on Sept. 7. Glenn and Wood are locks, and it would seem so is Williams, an offseason veteran free agent signee.

Henderson — the seventh-round pick with first-round talent (according to Bills' GM Doug Whaley) — filled in admirably for Glenn at left tackle, and now has been moved to right tackle where he played in college at Miami. He has been clear-cut better than second-round draft pick Cyrus Kouandjio, and holdover starter Pears.

At right guard, it's been a revolving door, and the odd man out seems to be returning starter Urbik, who played 98 percent of the offensive snaps in 2013. Marrone has given countless players an opportunity to unseat Urbik, and Pears is the latest.

"He's probably one of the best pros that I've been around and I've been around some good ones, guys that have played a long time," Marrone said of Pears. "I talked to him about, 'Hey, we're going to put you inside and see how that works.' No problem. He's looked good in there."

At this point in his career, Pears is probably better-suited to playing guard than tackle, so this is a move that could pan out. If not, rookie fifth-round pick Cyril Richardson provides Marrone another option thanks to a pretty decent camp and preseason.

"Guys are doing a good job of stepping up, knowing what they're supposed to do and providing a lot of competition," said Wood. "We have a lot of good players and some guys getting healthy and providing some good competition."

MAIORANA@DemocratandChronicle.com

Twitter.com/@salmaiorana

CAMP SCHEDULE

Thursday…2 p.m.

TRAINING CAMP NOTES

Most of the training camp fights at Fisher have been minor, and there haven't been many, but Wednesday morning, there was a nasty scuffle that broke out between center Eric Wood and defensive tackle Bryan Johnson. During a live goal-line drill, Wood and Johnson stayed engaged after the whistle blew, and things escalated to the point where Johnson ripped Wood's helmet off and began throwing punches.

"It's a situation where I thought it was just kind of unnecessary," said tight end Scott Chandler, who jumped in to defend Wood. "I don't know if it's always productive."

Coach Doug Marrone was not pleased by what took place. "I don't think there's a place in this game for any kind of scuffles, you know?" Marrone said. "And then we put some new players in and we fumbled a snap at the 1-yard line. That's what happens when those things occur. It's not part of the game, therefore, I don't want to speak about it. It hurts the integrity of our game the more we talk about it. That's how I feel about fighting."

- Cornerback Leodis McKelvin, who returned to full-time practice earlier in the week, could not finish Wednesday's workout and left early, but it wasn't because of his hip surgery, this was a groin issue.

"I have no idea; they haven't told me that yet," Marrone said when asked what happened to McKelvin.