The Buffalo Bills are one of a handful of NFL teams facing a problematic salary cap situation that requires work to be compliant when the new league year starts next month.
Bills general manager Brandon Beane could soon be getting some good news.
Pro Football Talk reported on Monday that the salary cap will be closer to $250 million than the $243 that’s been expected since before the 2023 regular season ended.
According to Spotrac.com, the Bills have 53 players under contract right now and their salary cap sits at $294.33 million. If the cap is set around $250, the Bills need to create north of $40 million in cap space just to become cap-compliant. Then Beane has to clear even more space to operate in free agency and sign what’s expected to be a 10-player draft class in April.
When Beane met with reporters at his season-ending press conference in January, he warned fans that this offseason could be without any big money moves.
“I’m gonna have to be creative with the cap,” he said. “And I don’t think I need to say it, but I don’t think you’re gonna see any splashes – even if I found something that was exciting to me. I don’t think it would fit within our cap parameters.”
The best place Beane can start to clear some of the space is by restructuring Josh Allen’s massive contract and converting his 2024 full base salary ($23.5 million) and a $6 million roster bonus into a signing bonus. That will bring Allen’s cap hit down by about $22 million and will get Beane off and running to clear space.
Once Beane does the work and gets the Bills under the eventual cap limit, the shopping might be delayed when free agency begins. Last season the Bills pulled off a few smaller free agent signing in guard Connor McGovern and receiver Deonte Harty during the first week. Most of Beane’s work happened during the second and third waves of free agency.
“I think everyone needs to understand that we’re going to be shopping at some of those same stores we were…
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