Getty Tre'Davious White warms up before a Buffalo Bills game.
The Buffalo Bills are close to $50 million under the salary cap as the official start of the new season approaches, and one insider believes the first pick of the Sean McDermott era could become a casualty as the team looks to shed salary.
The Athletic’s Joe Buscaglia suggested that the Bills could look to release cornerback Tre’Davious White, who is coming off a series of major injuries. White suffered a torn ACL in 2021, then after going through a long recovery was hit with a torn Achilles in 2023.
Buscaglia noted that the Bills could clear significant cap space by the start of the new league year by parting ways with White.
‘Complex’ Choice Ahead for Brandon Beane
Buscaglia wrote that cutting White would save a little more than $6 million in cap space, but noted that “the situation could go either way and is more complex than just saving cap room.” General manager Brandon Beane would ultimately need to determine whether White can still contribute at a high level after two major injuries, Buscaglia suggested, but may not have much time to make a final decision.
“They love the player and want White to get healthy before making a decision,” Buscaglia wrote. “But they may run out of time for him to do so before his $1.5 million roster bonus is due a few days into the new league year, which would take away 25 percent of their potential savings.”
#Bills Offseason Question No. 3:
Can they afford to move on from oft-injured cornerback Tre’Davious White?
Via @JaySkurski
Buscaglia had previously suggested that the Bills could find a middle ground on White, signing him to a contract extension that converts his 2024 base salary and roster bonus into a fully guaranteed signing bonus and adding a pair of non-guaranteed years through 2027 that would prorate the salary.
Bills Still Believe in Their All-Pro Cornerback
Beane has made it clear that the team still highly values White, even after his series of season-ending injuries. Speaking to reporters at a season-ending press conference, Beane praised White for the work he put in to return from his 2021 injury at a high level this year before being struck again by an unfortunate injury.
“We love Tre. I mean, guy worked relentlessly hard on his rehab to come back from the ACL,” Beane said. “And then we have this big win verse Miami [Dolphins] and at the end of the game, pops his Achilles. He’s attacked this the same way.”
Beane also gave no indication that the team was ready to move on from White, saying the team wanted to get him back on the field. But the Bills general manager also declined to say whether White would return to a starting job, especially after the strong second season from Christian Benford and stellar performance from trade-deadline acquisition Rasul Douglas.
“For us, our focus here is just getting him healthy, more than anything else, to get him back on the field. 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.”