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The Buffalo Bills needed to do some work to get compliant with the salary cap before the start of the season, and used two contract moves to get there — with some room to spare.
As ESPN’s Field Yates reported on September 5, the Bills did some financial maneuvering to get back under the salary cap without needing to make any roster moves.
“The Bills have restructured the contracts of G Ryan Bates and CB Taron Johnson, creating roughly $4.5M in 2023 cap space,” Yates reported.
With the moves, the Bills are now back under the cap with a little more than $1 million extra for any potential roster moves in the coming weeks.
Bills Needed to Shed Salary
As Anthony Licciardi of SI.com noted, the Bills were one of eight NFL teams that needed to get under the salary cap ahead of Week 1 games. The Bills needed to shed $3.3 million in salary, with the contract restructures creating close to $1.2 million in extra wiggle space beyond that point.
Bates enters the season as the team’s starting right guard, though rookie O’Cyrus Torrence had a strong showing in training camp and the preseason and could challenge for the job. Johnson has been a mainstay of the secondary, making 90 total tackles with one interception last season.
As Licciardi pointed out, the restructures are solely about getting the team back under the salary cap and nothing more.
“However, neither of these moves should be taken as an indictment of future snaps or past performance,” Licciardi wrote. “The players involved will get their money regardless of the contract lingo. This simply serves the purpose of making sure the Bills are cap compliant before they play the New York Jets to open the season on Monday Night Football.”
The Bills had faced a much larger salary cap crunch to start the offseason, and took away a significant chunk by restructuring the contracts of quarterback Josh Allen and edge rusher Von Miller.
At the time, Bills general manager Brandon Beane explained that the team would be using contract restructures to find breathing room.
“It gets tighter and tighter. We are tight on the cap this year and we’re gonna be tight next year looking at it from a forecasting standpoint,” Beane said, via the Democrat & Chronicle. “We got a couple of tough years coming up to do that. We will strategically push some money forward with some restructures coming up to get under the cap and then give us the opportunity to operate and fill some holes on both sides of the ball.”
Bills Urged to Make Big Move
The Bills may not have any imminent roster moves coming, but Pro Football Network’s Dallas Robinson suggested they could be an interested party should Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans hit the trade block.
Evans had requested a new contract and set a deadline of September 9, one day before Tampa’s season opener.
“Adding a veteran like Evans would give the Bills one of the best one-two punches in the league, with Stefon Diggs and Evans offering complementary skill sets,” Robinson wrote. “Gabe Davis would be pushed down a peg and become Buffalo’s WR3, a role he’s perhaps better suited for.”
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