Bills restructure Tre White; create cap space

[todd]

1 hour ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

 

Beane won't open his book of strategy to you, but if he says something like "we'll work on resigning Josh Allen's contract this summer or early fall", that's what he means.

Well that’s a really good point. Beane is a straight shooter.

[Logic]

So many cap experts here.

 

I love this time of year.

[Mango]

7 minutes ago, dave mcbride said:

Apparently,  that's not going to happen in 2022 and 2023. Maybe in 2024 though. From Peter King:

 

Three points to make: In 2020, a year when the owners lost about $4 billion due to COVID-related issues, players made 100 percent of their scheduled compensation. NBA players had their pay cut by 25 percent to finish the 2019-20 season; MLB players played a shortened 60-game schedule and made a pro-rated 37 percent of their scheduled pay. And when the total revenue of the league went down by $4 billion, obviously the cap, which is based on current revenues for the upcoming season, would go down accordingly. The league and players reached an agreement to spread the cap losses over three years. So the 2021 cap figure fell from the projected $198 million to $182.5 million, with the caps in 2022 and 2023 absorbing the rest of the lows from the COVID season.

There’s nothing sinister about it. If you take in $4 billion less than projected, it’s going to impact the cap, and instead of taking the hit all in one season and pushing the cap down to $155 million for 2021, the compromise of spreading the losses over three years was reached.

2. I think I won’t be surprised if there’s an element in the 2022 cap that allows teams to use a future year or years as a “bank” to borrow from. Because there’s no way the cap’s going to skyrocket next year, and I doubt in 2023 either. My guess is it goes up $8 million, maybe, next year, and then $12 million in 2023. If I’m right, by 2023 lots of teams that pushed bigger 2021 deals than they could afford will need room desperately.

 

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/03/22/nfl-free-agency-tv-deal-fmia-peter-king/

 

I think one thing to point out here is that I believe the NFL is the ONLY league in North America where the yearly TV contract exceeds the salary cap for the players (and by a pretty good amount too). The last NBA TV deal was reported to be worth about $2.6-$2.7B. The NBA has a soft cap, so things are wonky, but even at the "hard cap" of $100M and change, by 30 teams, that is still $3B total, and most teams are well over the $100M mark. The MLB doesn't have a cap and their latest TV deal is about $550M per year, the average payroll for an MLB roster is $120M and there are 30 teams. 

You can't just say "NBA and MLB players took a paycut and NFL players didn't". The NFL TV contract allows the league to pay its entire roster and have money left over. No other league does that. 

[Buffalo_Stampede]

Brandon Beane today. 

 

[Mango]

1 minute ago, Rk_Bills86 said:

 

No player cares about a signing bonus - especially when talking about as large of a contract as JA is going to command - the only number that matters of Guaranteed Money. That's it. Now - having a signing bonus is nice, because it's money now, but these aren't people choosing to take a lump sum vs deferred payments on lottery winnings over 30 years. The second Cousin's signed his first Vikings contract, the power of gtd money became king for all superstar players.

 

There are literally no players that would option for a signing bonus over a much larger guaranteed money value because it offers FAR greater protection and overall value. As a matter of fact, why would ANY player that wasn't a far lower tier care about signing bonus.

 

You have missed the point entirely. Of course the player is more concerned with guaranteed money because that amount is greater. Base salary is of course kicked down the road, hence the word extension. But bonus money is paid at the time the contract is signed. Your statement that a Josh Allen extension would not effect the financials in 2021 is wrong. Bonus money gets spread out from when you sign the contract. 

Say the team takes the 5th year option on Josh before the extension, but then extend him this summer on a 5 year deal. The bonus money then gets spread over 7 years rather than 5. Increasing his immediate cap number, but lowering it down the back end. That is the entire advantage to extending players early. 

[Don Otreply]

34 minutes ago, BillsFan1988 said:

U got to be kidding me expecting they do some reconstruction do the DLINE is not asking for perfection. I can come up with way more if we want to get into perfection for example trading up for Cody Ford instead of taking DK Metcalf but I'm not expecting perfection . What I am expecting is when there's a weakness that needs to be corrected as in our vastly overpaid DLINE then they do something about it. 

I am so happy you don’t make decisions for the Bills, I guess after all there is a god...

[dave mcbride]

21 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

 

Projected caps are to increase by 20 million, 20 million and 30 million over the next 3 years

Not according to this article. 

9 minutes ago, Mango said:

 

I think one thing to point out here is that I believe the NFL is the ONLY league in North America where the yearly TV contract exceeds the salary cap for the players (and by a pretty good amount too). The last NBA TV deal was reported to be worth about $2.6-$2.7B. The NBA has a soft cap, so things are wonky, but even at the "hard cap" of $100M and change, by 30 teams, that is still $3B total, and most teams are well over the $100M mark. The MLB doesn't have a cap and their latest TV deal is about $550M per year, the average payroll for an MLB roster is $120M and there are 30 teams. 

You can't just say "NBA and MLB players took a paycut and NFL players didn't". The NFL TV contract allows the league to pay its entire roster and have money left over. No other league does that. 

I'm just saying that the cap won't go up that much in the next couple of years. That's all. 

[Simon Says]

2 hours ago, Brennan Huff said:

Bills sign Jadevon Clowney to a 1 year 7.5 million dollar deal 

Restructuring White's contract doesn't give them 7.5 to SPEND. It gets them barely UNDER the cap: they were over by 6 or 7 million 

Edited March 24, 2021 by Georgie

[Charles Romes]

Looking at the massive FA list the value is in  the second tier FAs still available, not in a big name edge rusher. 

[machine gun kelly]

Just now, dave mcbride said:

Apparently,  that's not going to happen in 2022 and 2023. Maybe in 2024 though. From Peter King:

 

Three points to make: In 2020, a year when the owners lost about $4 billion due to COVID-related issues, players made 100 percent of their scheduled compensation. NBA players had their pay cut by 25 percent to finish the 2019-20 season; MLB players played a shortened 60-game schedule and made a pro-rated 37 percent of their scheduled pay. And when the total revenue of the league went down by $4 billion, obviously the cap, which is based on current revenues for the upcoming season, would go down accordingly. The league and players reached an agreement to spread the cap losses over three years. So the 2021 cap figure fell from the projected $198 million to $182.5 million, with the caps in 2022 and 2023 absorbing the rest of the lows from the COVID season.

There’s nothing sinister about it. If you take in $4 billion less than projected, it’s going to impact the cap, and instead of taking the hit all in one season and pushing the cap down to $155 million for 2021, the compromise of spreading the losses over three years was reached.

2. I think I won’t be surprised if there’s an element in the 2022 cap that allows teams to use a future year or years as a “bank” to borrow from. Because there’s no way the cap’s going to skyrocket next year, and I doubt in 2023 either. My guess is it goes up $8 million, maybe, next year, and then $12 million in 2023. If I’m right, by 2023 lots of teams that pushed bigger 2021 deals than they could afford will need room desperately.

 

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/03/22/nfl-free-agency-tv-deal-fmia-peter-king/

Dave, nailed it.  I believe it will only be around $203-4 mil. in 2022 so still behind what the contracts were written in past years.  2021 would normally have been $210 mil.  Then in 2023 it should be round $2025 mil. so catching up to the normal trajectory.  The cap will absolutely astronomically increase thereafter and will help the large contracts we'll need to sign in future years.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

14 minutes ago, Georgie said:

Restructuring White's contract doesn't give them 7.5 to SPEND. It gets them barely UNDER the cap: they were over by 6 or 7 million 

 

No, they weren't. 

And as myself and others have pointed out, there are known extensions (Matakevich) and known void years (Sanders) that aren't reflected in fan-facing sites like Spotrac.

 

As far as the contracts we knew about, they may have been over, but not by nearly that amount.  Maybe $1M or $2M.

[BillsFan1988]

40 minutes ago, Don Otreply said:

I am so happy you don’t make decisions for the Bills, I guess after all there is a god...

U sure about that? How do u know I won't do a great job. I bet I'll be better then you. 

[JohnBonhamRocks]

Does this move seem just enough to fit Obada or is there more activity on the horizon? 

[BillsFanForever19]

Just now, JohnBonhamRocks said:

Does this move seem just enough to fit Obada or is there more activity on the horizon? 

 

I think there's still some space after Obada. But we were reportedly over the cap by a little more than a few million as of yesterday, so a chunk goes towards first getting us out of the red.

[Rochesterfan]

50 minutes ago, Georgie said:

Restructuring White's contract doesn't give them 7.5 to SPEND. It gets them barely UNDER the cap: they were over by 6 or 7 million 

 

They were not over the CAP.  The NFL has been pretty clear - deals are not allowed for teams over the CAP - it changed some of the trade dates because Philadelphia had not cleared enough cash to trade Wentz.  They had to wait an additional day while they made additional restructures to get the trade through.

 

The Bills would not have been allowed to sign McKenzie yesterday or the DE today if we were over the Cap.

 

The official numbers with the NFL reflect everything they have done - the numbers on websites like Spotrac do not and are not official.

 

I will agree the restructure is not so the Bills can spend 7.5 million, but it gave them room to sign the DE and have some additional money if needed and pay their draft picks.  Prior to that and after McKenzie the CAP space for the Bills was down to about 1 million - not even enough to get the draft picks under the cap.

[Don Otreply]

25 minutes ago, BillsFan1988 said:

U sure about that? How do u know I won't do a great job. I bet I'll be better then you. 

Just reading your intent has me quite sure. 

[BillsFan1988]

3 hours ago, Don Otreply said:

Just reading your intent has me quite sure. 

So u disagree with my content? We didn't make a mistake by signing Addison, Butler and Jefferson . We don't have the highest paid DLINE in the NFL that's not getting it done without applying additional pressure by sending blitzes. I'm was wrong your right buddy. 

[JerseyBills]

6 hours ago, Royale with Cheese said:

 

Interesting. 

The difference? Bills players legitimately consider their teammates family. 

I can't wait to overtake the Chiefs

[UConn James]

6 hours ago, Rk_Bills86 said:

 

JA will get an extension - not a new contract that has any monetary value effect for this season. The earliest this would hit our cap would be next year. 

Yes, but I would imagine there would be some kind of signing bonus involved that they probably want to put at least some of on this year’s cap.

[Don Otreply]

38 minutes ago, BillsFan1988 said:

So u disagree with my content? We didn't make a mistake by signing Addison, Butler and Jefferson . We don't have the highest paid DLINE in the NFL that's not getting it done without applying additional pressure by sending blitzes. I'm was wrong your right buddy. 

I disagree with what I spoke to. 

[ColoradoBills]

6 hours ago, BillsFan1988 said:

Is that a can I see being kicked down the road. Lol. 

 

Yep and Beane picked the best player to "kick" it with.

 

[Simon Says]

7 hours ago, UConn James said:

Space for re-upping Josh Allen is my bet.

How does reducing THIS year's cap help extend Allen?

[ColoradoBills]

5 minutes ago, Georgie said:

How does reducing THIS year's cap help extend Allen?

 

Exactly.  Josh is already on the books in Spotrac next year for his 5th year option for $23M.

That is what he will be playing under.

[TBBills]

7 hours ago, Brennan Huff said:

Wow what else can you tell us? We need pass rush. It’s a weak draft for pass rush. There’s nobody else out there. People will groan about everything on here. 1 year 7.5 mil is not even a bad deal 

It is for a bad player.

[Buffalo03]

Making space to resign Trent Murphy

[John from Riverside]

1 hour ago, TBBills said:

It is for a bad player.

That bad player would have led our team in sacks last year......as a backup

[hjnick]

9 hours ago, Royale with Cheese said:

 

What a dope. 

[Rk_Bills86]

1 hour ago, UConn James said:

Yes, but I would imagine there would be some kind of signing bonus involved that they probably want to put at least some of on this year’s cap.

 

I just don't see us having the room to add any part of his signing bonus to this years cap hit. I fully understand where you guys are coming from - but lets look at where we're at currently:

 

According to Spotrac we have $4.1 Million in space - but this does not include whatever contract Efe Obada got. 

 

Ways to increase our cap space remaining:

Dion Dawkins bonus option (similar to Tre unless there was a window we missed to activate it +7.5 million)

Diggs Restructure/Extend ($$ unknown)

Hughes Restructure/Extend ($$unknown)

 

Things we need money for:

Rookies Round 1-3: roughly around $1.5-2 million 

Rookies Round 4-7: most likely zero regarding cap concerns due to not being top 51

Emergency Signing: Injuries happen - we will most likely sign a few players during the year due to injuries - recommended $4-6 million cap space reserved (number suggested by a GM on XM talk show - didn't catch name)

Rollover Cap space: if applicable 

 

Right now we're sitting pretty close to cap if we look at Efe and Rookies being added in. We need to have some money for signing players incase of injuries. I could be persuaded to not aim for an initial rollover pot. But essentially if the year started now - we're be in the theoretical red or be playing a dangerous game with little wiggle room for unexpected injuries.

 

Directly regarding JA and a signing bonus - any and all signing bonuses can be distributed across up to 5 years on a contract. We could just sign extend him for 6 years and the first part of the signing bonus wouldn't hit the cap until 2023. (Special note here, when a signing bonus hits the cap is NOT when the player gets the money - I think there was a disconnect in an earlier post - signing bonus money goes to the player the second they are done putting pen to paper)

 

Hell we could extend him for 8 years with 2( or more? don't know the limit here) voidable years and have his signing bonus be spread across the last 5 years and his signing bonus wouldn't hit the cap books until 2024.

 

One step further - the new contract concept that Jerry Jones started using recently, the team reserves the right to convert a portion of the remaining contract into a signing bonus at anytime throughout the contract. Think something similar to what we just did with Tre but repeatable and at the teams discretion. Huge special note here - they are not limited in how often they can do this. Now I'm not sure how I feel about this - but this type of clause in the contract allows a team to really have a ton of wiggle room when they see how much cap they do or don't have.

 

There should be zero hurry or desire to stress the cap anymore than it already is for this year - when any value he signs for will be chump change in 5 years and we should realistically be aiming to lock up Allen long term - preferably overlapping into the new broadcasting deal so we're not dealing with a contract market where everything has reset right at the start of the new money entering the NFL (I should clarify this - the CBA money starts entering the NFL market this year, but with the likely expansion to 17 regular season games between 2021 and 2023 more money will be available to the players). 

 

*The current train of thought is that next year we should see the cap be slightly higher than it was anticipated to be prior to COVID

Original Cap estimated for 2021: $210millin

Current Estimated Cap for 2022: $215million

 

I wouldn't mind a contract extension that  looks something like:

8 years (last two years voidable) - $275 million, $67 million signing bonus (or more - but this 1 ups Dak by literally 1million), $145 million guaranteed (I think this is fair - it's slightly more than Mahomes but across less total years)

 

* I think 43 million a yr is a good benchmark and over 6 years that would be 258, the round up to 275 sweetens the pot but you tack on the 2 voidable years to give wiggle room. take away the signing bonus you only need to average 34.6 million a year.

 

I provide the following overly generalized template:

 

*Feel free to divide up $67 million as you see fit and add it to any of the years

*Feel free to change any yearly amount but what you take away from one year you must add back somewhere else - may I suggest a lower 2022/2023 hit and a higher 2024/2025 hit as the market resets from the CBA money from a likely extended regular season.

*Feel free to up the signing bonus and make additional changes (example: $75 million signing bonus would be $31.6 million for 6 yrs.)

 

2021: $6.9 million

Extension begins

2022: $34.6 million + 

2023: $34.6 million + 

New CBA money has entered the league and market values have had full FA pass to reset player values

2024: $34.6 million + 

2025: $34.6 million + 

2026: $34.6 million + 

Voidable years (extra years to roll over signing bonus if needed):

2027: +

2028: +

 

 

 

 

 

[Magox]

9 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

Cap space can be rolled over.........and re-structuring White's deal might have been time sensitive.........so might not be related to a pending personnel move at all.

 

They will want space for in-season moves as well.  

 

Might be a good play to see which of these one-year deal pass rushers has a strong start and then.....if their team is in the market to move them....... trade for them at the deadline and get them for the playoffs at half the cap hit. 

 

Could be, flexibility is always a good thing.   Right now, this is a market for patient GM's.

[Buffalo Barbarian]

Need to sign the draft class

 

 

[Magox]

19 minutes ago, Rk_Bills86 said:

 

Ways to increase our cap space remaining:

Dion Dawkins bonus option (similar to Tre unless there was a window we missed to activate it +7.5 million)

Diggs Restructure/Extend ($$ unknown)

Hughes Restructure/Extend ($$unknown)

 

 

 

I see the Bills doing something with Dawkins to free up some money and I think they will extend Diggs to reduce this years cap.

 

Plus, I think they know that even though Diggs has been a great teammate, he is not about to take any discount.  I think for him getting paid is also a sign of respect and he right now is nowhere near the highest paid WR.  I think if not addressed it could end up being something that eats away at him.   I'm totally guessing here but that is the sense I get.   I think a 2 year extension worth $36 million with $20 Million guaranteed gets it done.

 

Hughes, I'm not so sure.  They could do something with him but do we really want to extend him beyond what the contract that he's currently on?   I love the way Hughes plays and he's a great teammate who gets pressures but I feel that he's beginning to fade.

[ColoradoBills]

22 minutes ago, Rk_Bills86 said:

Extension begins

2022: $34.6 million + 

 

Next year will be the 5th year option the Bills will be picking up soon for $23M.

The extension will start in 2023.

Same timing as Mahomes just went thru.

[Buffalo Barbarian]

1 hour ago, Buffalo03 said:

Making space to resign Trent Murphy

 

Is he still available?

 

A lot of fans dont like Murphy but coach made sure he played in the playoffs and he did well for that, so i wouldn't mind him back.

 

 

[cba fan]

10 hours ago, Royale with Cheese said:

 

that's dumb. His agent is not informing him properly. A restructure is in his best interest. He gets non-guaranteed money moved up and gets it right now. So it is not risked to be lost if cut later in contract.

Helps the competition as Chiefs now have less cap space. lol.

[Buffalo03]

14 minutes ago, Buffalo Barbarian said:

 

Is he still available?

 

A lot of fans dont like Murphy but coach made sure he played in the playoffs and he did well for that, so i wouldn't mind him back.

 

 

I don't really care for Murphy. I moreso brought it up as a joke

[Aussie Joe]

7 minutes ago, cba fan said:

that's dumb. His agent is not informing him properly. A restructure is in his best interest. He gets non-guaranteed money moved up and gets it right now. So it is not risked to be lost if cut later in contract.

Helps the competition as Chiefs now have less cap space. lol.

 

If it makes things harder for the Chiefs then great...

 

However I note that he is a free agent at the end of 2022 so him and his agent might be using this as leverage to get an extension... 

[Mr. K]

Brandon Beane "its on like a mofo"

[YoloinOhio]

1 hour ago, Buffalo Barbarian said:

 

Is he still available?

 

A lot of fans dont like Murphy but coach made sure he played in the playoffs and he did well for that, so i wouldn't mind him back.

 

 

He is available. I actually wouldn’t be surprised to see him sign with the Bills for a min deal if no one else come through. 

[Rk_Bills86]

1 hour ago, ColoradoBills said:

 

Next year will be the 5th year option the Bills will be picking up soon for $23M.

The extension will start in 2023.

Same timing as Mahomes just went thru.

 

I mean this is even better overall and to the original point no reason to add any value from his eventual extension to this years cap hit. 

[Mr. WEO]

11 hours ago, DJB said:

 

I've said it for 3 years on here. 

 

Clowney is the most overrated player in the NFL. 

 

Duke Williams just exhaled a sigh of relief..