Very Early Look at the Bills 2026 Offseason - Free Agents, Cap Space, Players on Expiring Contracts

[longtimebillsfan]

On 5/3/2025 at 7:22 PM, LEBills said:

Taron is another likely cut next year. 
 

RVD is unlikely to get an RFA tender since the minimum is over $3 mil which would be a lot for an OT4. Anderson may get the minimum tender if they think he is the replacement for Edwards.

 

Cook and McGovern are hopefully resigned soon.

I don't see Cook being resigned.  It would take Cook to significantly backpeddle on his $15 M post.  

Edited yesterday at 05:27 PM by longtimebillsfan

[SoCal Deek]

People often criticize the GM (including me) but when you see this list you realize he has a TON on his plate every year. All these contractual plates need to be kept spinning while at the same convincing the players, and their agents, that they’re each ‘critical’ to the current and long term success of the franchise. I’m guessing it’s exhausting. 

[Kwai San]

15 hours ago, LABILLBACKER said:

I thought Hamlin, Lewis and Gilliam have lifetime contracts?

Lewis for sure!!!  LOL

[bigK14094]

22 hours ago, Not at the table Karlos said:

Most of those UFAs are gonna be gone. 

Depends on how they do in 25 though.

[ProcessTruster]

In Beane we trust.   He pulls it off every year, next year will be no different.   

 

We'll be loaded.  

 

Go Bills

[section122]

I'm shocked that Dawson Knox will be the 3rd highest paid player on the team next year and nothing was done with his contract.  He also carries the 5th highest TE contract number in the NFL.  This seems to be such an easy no brainer way to clear up cap space with either an extension or pay cut.

 

[GerstAusGosheim]

First step will be looking for a new coach if Sean doesn't get to the Super Bowl 

[JP51]

On 5/3/2025 at 10:22 PM, LEBills said:

Taron is another likely cut next year. 
 

RVD is unlikely to get an RFA tender since the minimum is over $3 mil which would be a lot for an OT4. Anderson may get the minimum tender if they think he is the replacement for Edwards.

 

Cook and McGovern are hopefully resigned soon.

I am hoping so... but I am interested in SVP to see if he gets more time this year... 

[BillsFanForever19]

16 hours ago, JP51 said:

I am hoping so... but I am interested in SVP to see if he gets more time this year... 

 

Offensive Line isn't a rotation position. The starting Offensive Line stays in and plays practically 100% of snaps - unless there's injury. They're not pulling McGovern out to put SVP unless he's injured, dinged up, or needs an occasional breather.

Edited 15 hours ago by BillsFanForever19

[GETTOTHE50]

On 5/4/2025 at 4:59 AM, longtimebillsfan said:

I don't see Cook being resigned.  It would take Cook to significantly backpeddle on his $15 M post.  

Cook better get resigned.

 

Don’t you guys remember how he stretched across the goaline against KC in arrowhead when a tackler had him on his legs?

 

He deserved a contract right after that. He’s turned into a big time baller 

[Mailman]

On 5/4/2025 at 1:16 AM, LABILLBACKER said:

I thought Hamlin, Lewis and Gilliam have lifetime contracts?

Wait.  They don't??😆

[JP51]

5 hours ago, BillsFanForever19 said:

 

Offensive Line isn't a rotation position. The starting Offensive Line stays in and plays practically 100% of snaps - unless there's injury. They're not pulling McGovern out to put SVP unless he's injured, dinged up, or needs an occasional breather.

I do not think that they are going to take their best players out on the offensive line to put him in.... Nor do I think that they should... but this line has been remarkably healthy for several years...  I would think he might be one of the backups that would fill in... If so would be interested to see how he has progressed...   

[Rubes]

I have nothing in particular to add to this conversation other than saying "thanks" to the OP for this thread. I'm not a fan of way-too-early mock drafts, but I do appreciate an early look at and discussion of next off season's free agents.

 

🍺

[longtimebillsfan]

6 hours ago, GETTOTHE50 said:

Cook better get resigned.

 

Don’t you guys remember how he stretched across the goaline against KC in arrowhead when a tackler had him on his legs?

 

He deserved a contract right after that. He’s turned into a big time baller 

Agreed, but how do we fit him under the cap?

[Krakensabres]

For anyone worried about space next year - there are multiple built-in levels to people’s contracts to restructure that will open up probably $30-$40 million every single year. Number one on that list is always Josh Allen. Then wee at 50 mil in space before any other extensions or cuts that save money 

Edited 6 hours ago by Krakensabres

[billsfan89]

On 5/3/2025 at 10:53 PM, Ralonzo said:

Here's the Spotrac link for 2026: https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/cap/_/year/2026/sort/cap_total_top51/dir/desc

 

Issues:

 

1) The Bills are going to have to pay 6 void years on those UFAs: 

Matt Milano $11,071,000

Joey Bosa $7,200,000

Connor McGovern $4,805,000

DaQuan Jones $3,724,000

AJ Epenesa $2,861,000

Larry Ogunjobi $2,570,052

-------------------------------

Total: $32,231,052

 

Dunno if you can do much about that except extending and among those only McGovern would be on my radar.

 

If I understand this page, players whose salary exceed their dead cap hit can be cut pre-June 1 for cap savings as follows:

Dawson Knox - $9,664,000 (7,404,000 dead)

Dion Dawkins - $8,805,000 (14,114,833 dead)

Taron Johnson - $6,710,000 (4,350,000 dead)

Curtis Samuel - $6,275,000 (3,450,000 dead)

Taylor Rapp - $3,350,000 (666,667 dead)

Tyler Bass - $2,930,000 (2,040,000 dead)

Ed Oliver - $2,685,000 (21,585,000 dead)

Ty Johnson - $2,205,000 (820,000 dead)

 

The obvious ones are gonna be Knox, Samuel and Bass. Low-impact cuts where you can get a replacement with not much dead cap might be Johnson and Rapp.

 

Samuel is the obvious cut likely will June 1st him so they can operate up to the cap most of the off-season and then have his money hit late for the "inseason" and draft pool dollars to be soaked up when 5-6 million becomes available on June 1st. With Bass something is gonna happen there but it is going to depend on his performance. If he has a good season I can see them extending his deal if he has a bad season he is out on that cap number. Knox I am not so sure about. He's a very solid player but certainly overpaid at his cap number. But he's Josh's boy and still a more than respectable starting caliber TE and will only be 30 in 2026 which isn't that old for a TE (TE's usually decline around 32/33). So I can see Knox esp with his dead cap being fairly high. 

 

I also wonder if the Bills are gonna work on extending Connor McGovern. He's only 27 (will turn 28 in November) offensive linemen play fairly well into their early 30's (usually don't decline until age 33ish) so an extension for him for 3-4 years makes sense and I think can adjust the void year which will bring down some dead cap void money. 

 

Cap is going to be tight again next year as the extensions for Groot and the three 2022 NFL draft extended players hits. But the Bills also have a lot of players coming off the books along with a lot of dead money Von's 15 million in dead cap as well as the final 5 million of Tre's original contract plus the last void year on Leonard Floyd as well as a few other lingering dead cap charges. But Milano and Bosa's dead caps are gonna step right into that void. That's why if they can reduce Connor McGovern's that would be helpful. 

[Krakensabres]

22 minutes ago, billsfan89 said:

 

Samuel is the obvious cut likely will June 1st him so they can operate up to the cap most of the off-season and then have his money hit late for the "inseason" and draft pool dollars to be soaked up when 5-6 million becomes available on June 1st. With Bass something is gonna happen there but it is going to depend on his performance. If he has a good season I can see them extending his deal if he has a bad season he is out on that cap number. Knox I am not so sure about. He's a very solid player but certainly overpaid at his cap number. But he's Josh's boy and still a more than respectable starting caliber TE and will only be 30 in 2026 which isn't that old for a TE (TE's usually decline around 32/33). So I can see Knox esp with his dead cap being fairly high. 

 

I also wonder if the Bills are gonna work on extending Connor McGovern. He's only 27 (will turn 28 in November) offensive linemen play fairly well into their early 30's (usually don't decline until age 33ish) so an extension for him for 3-4 years makes sense and I think can adjust the void year which will bring down some dead cap void money. 

 

Cap is going to be tight again next year as the extensions for Groot and the three 2022 NFL draft extended players hits. But the Bills also have a lot of players coming off the books along with a lot of dead money Von's 15 million in dead cap as well as the final 5 million of Tre's original contract plus the last void year on Leonard Floyd as well as a few other lingering dead cap charges. But Milano and Bosa's dead caps are gonna step right into that void. That's why if they can reduce Connor McGovern's that would be helpful. 

Cap will not be tight - remember we were over the cap to start this year. If you want to know how screwed we are look at the contracts for 2026. Josh Allen has $16 million base salary so does Groot… With how many years they have left on their contracts and void years if they convert just those two salaries alone to bonus, they make almost $30 million of cap space let alone any other conversions they wanna do

[billsfan89]

34 minutes ago, Krakensabres said:

Cap will not be tight - remember we were over the cap to start this year. If you want to know how screwed we are look at the contracts for 2026. Josh Allen has $16 million base salary so does Groot… With how many years they have left on their contracts and void years if they convert just those two salaries alone to bonus, they make almost $30 million of cap space let alone any other conversions they wanna do

 

Very true Bills will still be benefitting from the 2024 roster clean up. However, it is also going to be very dependent on how the 2023 draft picks develop in 2025. If Kinicaid has a big bounce back, Torrence continues to be steady and notches it up a bit, and D. Williams cements himself as a quality starting LB then Bills will be looking at locking those guys up to extensions for 2027 which will impact just how many "mercenaries" the Bills will want and what cap dollars they will want to tie up into deals. That seems to be how McBeane operates. 

[BillsFanForever19]

2 hours ago, Krakensabres said:

Cap will not be tight - remember we were over the cap to start this year. If you want to know how screwed we are look at the contracts for 2026. Josh Allen has $16 million base salary so does Groot… With how many years they have left on their contracts and void years if they convert just those two salaries alone to bonus, they make almost $30 million of cap space let alone any other conversions they wanna do

 

It really depends on what you consider tight. As it stands, we're at 10m under with a projected 17m jump in the Salary Cap. Which puts us at 26th in the league. Yes, we can come up with more space. But we'll also need to fill at least 15 or 16 2025 roster spaces on expiring contracts from that list, plus another 3 or 4 that will be let go to make space. And in 2026 (thus far) - we only have a standard 7 Draft Picks (and the last pick or two you can't really count on). So even with extra space, we're probably looking at another year of a bunch of 1 year FA deals with some mid tier to upper mid tier guys mixed in to fill holes, leaving us with not a lot to play with. But maybe he'll surprise us with a big ticket item somewhere, depending on the strength of the Rookie class out of the gate and the growth of others in Year 2/3.

 

I think given the amount of long term contracts we've been handing out every year and the number Josh is at going forward, gone are the days of big time, long term "Splash" FA signings or Trades like Stefon Diggs and Von Miller. I'd love to be wrong, but every year the board says "this is the year he goes all in" while year after year - his words and actions say otherwise. He's very much a 'Draft, Develop, Retain' focused GM.

Edited 2 hours ago by BillsFanForever19

[BillsShredder83]

On 5/3/2025 at 7:46 PM, BillsFanForever19 said:

With the 2025 Offseason being Post-Draft and nearing the end, I figured i'd take a quick look at what we'll be dealing with next offseason. Below i've listed the players who's contracts are expiring, as well as players of interest on the last year of their deal who could be extension or cut candidates. Many of the names on the list probably won't make the roster this year. And yes, I know it's early but I always like to take a look ahead:

 

 

Current Cap Space for 2026: $10,041,773 Under the Cap (after projected overall Salary Cap increase)

 

Unrestricted Free Agents:

 

- RB James Cook

- LB Matt Milano

- DE Joey Bosa

- C Connor McGovern

- G David Edwards

- DE AJ Epenesa

- DT Daquan Jones

- CB Tre'Davious White

- DT Larry Ogunjobi

- WR Elijah Moore

- QB Mitch Trubisky

- CB Cam Lewis

- S Damar Hamlin

- S Darrick Forrest

- P Jake Carmada

- FB Reggie Gilliam

- CB Dane Jackson

- WR Laviska Shenault

- QB Mike White

- LB Baylon Spector

- WR K.J. Hamler

- RB Darrynton Evans

- G Kendrick Green

 

Restricted and Exclusive RIghts Free Agents:

 

- G Alec Anderson

- OT Ryan Van Demark

- CB Ja'Marcus Ingram

- WR Jalen Virgil

- QB Shane Buechele

- P Brad Robbins

- TE Armani Rogers

 

Players of interest on the Last Year of their Deal in 2026:

 

- OG O'Cyrus Torrence

- TE Dalton Kincaid (if 5th Year Option isn't picked up) 

- LB Dorian Williams

- RB Ty Johnson

- WR Curtis Samuel (Potential Out in 2026: 9.725 Cap, 3.45m Dead Cap)

- TE Dawson Knox (Potential Out in 2026: 17m Cap, 7m Dead Cap)

- S Taylor Rapp (Potential Out in 2026: 4m Cap, 667k Dead Cap)

Didnt we extend McGovern right after year 1? Or am i imagining that? Need to get that one done. O'Cyrus too. David Edwards felt like a solid enough guy, but should be fairly easy to upgrade via the draft and get cheaper.