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Buffalo Bills cornerback Tre’Davious White will be spending the offseason rehabbing the second major injury in the course of three seasons, and one insider believes the team could need a “complex” decision on his future.
White was lost for the season after suffering a torn Achilles in October, which came less than a year after he returned from a torn ACL that cut short his 2022 season. While some insiders have suggested the Bills could part ways with White and reap some much-needed cap savings, The Athletic’s Joe Buscaglia believes the team can use an unconventional contract restructure to keep him in Buffalo on a lower-cost deal.
Insider Predicts Non-Guaranteed Extension for Bills Cornerback
Buscaglia noted that there is still a great deal of uncertainty on just when White could return from his torn Achilles, an injury that generally takes at least 12 months to return in full but could be longer given his recent history with injury. Buscaglia noted that the team could save more than $6 million in cap space by releasing White, but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards given the team’s high opinion of their All-Pro cornerback.
“[General manager Brandon] Beane said after the season their focus was to get White healthy and then go from there, but without clear knowledge when White will be healthy, it’s tough for the Bills to make that call when free agency rolls around,” Buscaglia wrote. “And just to make it even more difficult, White is due a $1.5 million roster bonus a few days after the start of the new league year in March.”
Buscaglia suggested that the Bills could find a “best-of-both-worlds” solution, signing White to a contract extension that would convert his 2024 base salary and roster bonus into a fully guaranteed signing bonus while adding a pair of non-guaranteed years through 2027 to prorate the salary.
The move would bring more than $7 million in cap savings while giving White motivation to return from his injury and prevent the Bills from creating a hole in the roster for an otherwise solid position group.
The Bills were able to make some key additions to their secondary after White went down, bringing back veteran Josh Norman to fill in for spot duty and landing Rasul Douglas in a trade-deadline deal with the Green Bay Packers.
Bills Looking Forward to Tre’Davious White’s Return
The Bills have not given any indication that they plan to move on from White, with Beane sharing some praise for the veteran cornerback and the work that he has put in toward his rehab. Speaking to reporters after the team’s playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, Beane said the team plans to get him healthy enough to return next season.
“For us, our focus here is just getting him healthy, more than anything else, to get him back on the field,” Beane said. “We have’t gone down that road of what does our starting corners look like next year. What can we afford or anything like that. I do feel like we have some depth there, which helps. But again, a healthy Tre White is a heck of a talent. So, you always want that if you can make it happen.”
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