Two All-Pro players may be cut by the Buffalo Bills in the 2024 NFL offseason.
Over the previous three seasons, the Buffalo Bills have fully committed to their roster, using hundreds of millions of dollars and draft capital in an attempt to win a Super Bowl. The Bills are now having to pay to compete after losing once more.
Buffalo has one of the worst salary-cap situations in the NFL going into the offseason. Now that the Bills have committed to aging players and given out large deal extensions, their window of opportunity to compete with their top talents has closed.
Buffalo Bills 2024 cap space: -$51,000,000
While teams like the Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs have changed their personnel without regressing, Buffalo’s situation in 2024 will make that extremely difficult. The front office of the Bills may have to part ways with a number of starters in order to comply with the NFL salary cap.
Tony Pauline of Sportskeeda examined Buffalo’s predicament and identified Von Miller, a future Hall of Fame inductee, and All-Pro cornerback Tre’Davious White as possible Bills cap casualties in 2024. Contract restructuring will also be necessary for All-Pro players and other starters.
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If Buffalo is willing to let go of White, then it makes sense to mark him as a post-June 1 release. With the departure of the former Pro Bowl cornerback, the dead cap hits would be less, totaling $6.234 million in 2024 and $4.134 million in 2025. This would save $10.2 million on the sheet. White’s time in Buffalo may be coming to an end, given that he has only participated in 10 games in the previous two seasons due to injuries that ended the season.
The choice gets a little trickier in Miller’s case. Allocating $6.7 million in cap space for him as a post-June 1 release would be beneficial. Buffalo would, however, be smacked with a dead cap of $15.417 million in 2025 and a dead cap charge of $17.08 million in 2024.
Just like with Stefon Diggs, whose contract makes it unlikely that he will leave at this point, Buffalo’s ultimate choice with Miller will probably involve renegotiating his contract. The player’s consent will be required for any substantial restructured deal, and any money that is released in 2024 will still need to be paid later.
Contract for Stefon Diggs: $18.5 million salary in 2024, with a $27.854 million cap hit
Cut/Trade prior to June 1: -$3.242 million cap hit
Post-June 1 Cut/Trade: $22.247 million dead cap, $19.005 million cap savings in 2024
Buffalo is also likely to renegotiate the contracts of Josh Allen ($47.056 million cap hit), Dion Dawkins ($16.6 million cap hit), and Dawson Knox ($14.3 million cap hit). Naturally, the goal of all of this is to bring Buffalo under the NFL wage cap in 2024. Many of the Bills’ top free agents probably won’t return in 2024 due to their current situation.
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