2026 Cap

[Mark Vader]

22 hours ago, GASabresIUFan said:

Just to warm everyone's hearts, the Bills have 33.221 million in cap committed for next year for the void years of players no longer under contract after this season including Milano ($11.071), Bosa ($7.2), McGovern ($4.805), Jones ($3.724), Epenesa ($2.861) and Ogunjobi ($2.57).

 

 

 

 

Yeah, the Bills can easily be $40-$50 million under the cap this year, and they would only have to restructure one or two players to get there.

 

Release Taron Johnson, Codrington & Rapp and that will be good savings.

 

Restructure Dawkins & Hoecht, and that's all they would need to do. You wouldn't have to touch Josh Allen's or Ed Oliver's contracts.

Edited 21 hours ago by Mark Vader

[corta765]

24 minutes ago, Coach Tuesday said:

 

You wonder if he has an internal mandate to achieve year over year competitiveness, because of the uniqueness of the Buffalo market - they cannot, like an LA team, afford 1-2 terrible years because they mortgaged the future.  I don't know if that's the case or not, but it would make sense to me.

It is an interesting question. I have actually thought Terry has said he is staying hands off and McB has carte blanche for what they want. On the flipside I would argue they could be more aggressive because truthfully Bills fans have been very good even in really bad years, whereas LA if you don't win they just dont care.

14 minutes ago, Mark Vader said:

Restructure Dawkins & Hoecht, and that's all they would need to do. You wouldn't have to touch Josh Allen's or Ed Oliver's contracts.

That is really important because that is an easy ace in the hole cap wise when the times come and the longer you can go without touching those the better.

[Mark Vader]

1 hour ago, corta765 said:

It is an interesting question. I have actually thought Terry has said he is staying hands off and McB has carte blanche for what they want. On the flipside I would argue they could be more aggressive because truthfully Bills fans have been very good even in really bad years, whereas LA if you don't win they just dont care.

That is really important because that is an easy ace in the hole cap wise when the times come and the longer you can go without touching those the better.

Right.

 

The important thing is how they deal with Dawson Knox. I don't see the Bills releasing him, which means they should activate the 2 void years he has and extend his current contract which will give the Bills some cap relief.

 

A restructure of Josh Allen & Ed Oliver would net the Bills a combined $21 million of cap space, but they don't really need it with the other moves I mentioned that they can do.

[Mango]

4 hours ago, Kirby Jackson said:

It does but the cap increases every year. So you spread cap hits and take bigger hits in later years when there is more cap space available. For example, the cap is roughly $24M more this year than last year. 

 

But also our void years for 2026 are nearly 2x Tremaine Edmunds 2026 cap hit.

 

I'm not necessarily saying Edmunds fixes anything/everything. But we do seem to be struggling with both starting LB positions. 2x Edmunds would be super helpful right now.

 

So when you borrow from the future and then get it wrong it really compounds the issue.

 

[Kirby Jackson]

5 minutes ago, Mango said:

 

But also our void years for 2026 are nearly 2x Tremaine Edmunds 2026 cap hit.

 

I'm not necessarily saying Edmunds fixes anything/everything. But we do seem to be struggling with both starting LB positions. 2x Edmunds would be super helpful right now.

 

So when you borrow from the future and then get it wrong it really compounds the issue.

 

I don’t disagree. You have no choice but to keep borrowing from the future while you have Josh in his prime. If you’re going to win it will be in this window. 
 

As an aside, I think Edmunds is having a big year. I saw him on someone’s DPOY ballot the other day. 

[Mango]

Just now, Kirby Jackson said:

I don’t disagree. You have no choice but to keep borrowing from the future while you have Josh in his prime. If you’re going to win it will be in this window. 
 

As an aside, I think Edmunds is having a big year. I saw him on someone’s DPOY ballot the other day. 

 

 Agreed, I have been watching a bit of Chicago this year. I am constantly going ugh/whoops. 

The odds weren't really in our favor, tough task for an undersized LB corp hold up year after year. Also I think the league is becoming a bit more smashmouth compared to 5 years. That certainly isn't helping. 

[Kirby Jackson]

33 minutes ago, Mango said:

 

 Agreed, I have been watching a bit of Chicago this year. I am constantly going ugh/whoops. 

The odds weren't really in our favor, tough task for an undersized LB corp hold up year after year. Also I think the league is becoming a bit more smashmouth compared to 5 years. That certainly isn't helping. 

He was (and is) such a unique talent. He’s an absolute physical freak. He’s over 6’4” and weighs 255 lbs. Edmunds runs a 4.5 40 and has those long arms. It’s hard to believe he’s still only 19.

Edited 18 hours ago by Kirby Jackson

[thewookie1]

I’d work to renegotiate Knox again, he’s a competent backup and if you can get a cap hit under 6mil he’s very much worth it.

 

Id start with restructures on Allen and Oliver  as well as cutting Samuel after 6/1. 
 

To me restructures should go from least likely to hurt us long term to most. For instance I have no intention of cutting or trading Allen so he’s just a piggy bank. Oliver is young enough to be useful going forward and we don’t run into void years in his mid to late 30’s. 
 

Palmer and Dawkins would be next on the list if need be.

 

 

[Mango]

9 minutes ago, thewookie1 said:

I’d work to renegotiate Knox again, he’s a competent backup and if you can get a cap hit under 6mil he’s very much worth it.

 

Id start with restructures on Allen and Oliver  as well as cutting Samuel after 6/1. 
 

To me restructures should go from least likely to hurt us long term to most. For instance I have no intention of cutting or trading Allen so he’s just a piggy bank. Oliver is young enough to be useful going forward and we don’t run into void years in his mid to late 30’s. 
 

Palmer and Dawkins would be next on the list if need be.

 

 

 

I am higher than most on Knox. I think he has a place on this team. We've seen a couple of guys take pay cuts over the years in Miller/Milano. I'd like to extend Knox at a much more fair value.

Edited 18 hours ago by Mango
Word

[colin]

23 minutes ago, Mango said:

 

 Agreed, I have been watching a bit of Chicago this year. I am constantly going ugh/whoops. 

The odds weren't really in our favor, tough task for an undersized LB corp hold up year after year. Also I think the league is becoming a bit more smashmouth compared to 5 years. That certainly isn't helping. 

 

honestly, this is scheme fit and being fragile vs being a guy.

 

when you watch nfl shows featuring players ( i like to hear shady mcoy and akib talib talk.  they have an urban street take on everything, but they worked really hard as nfl players, won championships, and are unfailingly honest) they talk about the guys, the dudes, the dogs.  tremain isn't a stud football player, but he's a total stud athlete playing football.  he was over paid by chicago, and is now earning all of his contract.

 

if you see who we extended, its taron johnson, milano, bernard (horrible horrible contract, he's just a scheme fit barely above replacement nfl guy), knox.  all four guys are paid, all four guys are not impact players at their position and are constantly hurt.  Taron was good before, but he's a tiny cb playing SLB on like 30% of our snaps, he just can't last.  at the next level, you have ed oliver and dq jones.  when healthy both of those guys are more than worth their contracts, but they are never healthy.  our latest other re signs were groot (people poop on him, but i'll take him at his contract all day every day, he's a trooper and a plus player), shakir (honestly over paid, he's a scheme fit guy and does things lots of other nfl guys can do, not a huge contract at least) and benford (was a stud for a couple years, but this is the third year in a row he's missed games where we needed him and lost with him out, and the prior two were in the fricking chip games).  even tho i love him, you might throw hoyt in there too cuz he got so badly hurt.

 

that's just too much money wrapped up in scheme fit not uber talented guys who most of all are always hurt.  

 

the upside is of course, we can let jones, johnson, milano, not bernard (too new contract) or shakir or benford (i think he can come back and be a stud again, i hope at least) go without any real impact.  knox, bass, samuel can all go too and frankly we won't really notice them too much.  

 

i think we push dead cap forward as the cap grows since we still have some core guys, maybe keep bosa, keep aj if he's cheap again, and fill in holes in the draft and trade like we shoulda for a guy like waddle.  some injury luck and like 3 position upgrades and we are a monster.

[corta765]

16 hours ago, Mango said:

 

 Agreed, I have been watching a bit of Chicago this year. I am constantly going ugh/whoops. 

The odds weren't really in our favor, tough task for an undersized LB corp hold up year after year. Also I think the league is becoming a bit more smashmouth compared to 5 years. That certainly isn't helping. 

They played the percentages that they could replace him for less with similar value and Milano at the time was still relatively healthy and had started 31 of the prior 34 games in the prior two years. Unfortunately Milano got wrecked injuries and now is a shell of himself and Bernard has had major regression in the defense to the point you need to talk about replacing him.

 

For the record I think they made the right move and some things didn't go their way/I do wish they would've added a solid vet LB after 2023 to reinforce behind Milano.

[Gunsgoodtime]

7 minutes ago, corta765 said:

They played the percentages that they could replace him for less with similar value and Milano at the time was still relatively healthy and had started 31 of the prior 34 games in the prior two years. Unfortunately Milano got wrecked injuries and now is a shell of himself and Bernard has had major regression in the defense to the point you need to talk about replacing him.

 

For the record I think they made the right move and some things didn't go their way/I do wish they would've added a solid vet LB after 2023 to reinforce behind Milano.

I was on board for letting Edmunds walk at the contract he signed, just didn't feel like he was worth it.  But after seeing all the overpaid contracts Beane hands out to JAGS he drafted, I would have much rather they just paid Edmunds.  Palmer and Samuel contract is about what Edmunfs is.  Then look at Bernard, Benford, Knox, Shakir, Milano etc  the list goes on of overpaid Jags.  Money would have been better used just signing Edmunds

[corta765]

3 minutes ago, Gunsgoodtime said:

I was on board for letting Edmunds walk at the contract he signed, just didn't feel like he was worth it.  But after seeing all the overpaid contracts Beane hands out to JAGS he drafted, I would have much rather they just paid Edmunds.  Palmer and Samuel contract is about what Edmunfs is.  Then look at Bernard, Benford, Knox, Shakir, Milano etc  the list goes on of overpaid Jags.  Money would have been better used just signing Edmunds

Agree tenfold. From 2019 to 2022 he understood adding elite talent over JAGs is a good thing and now has gone the other way.

[NastyNateSoldiers]

On 11/10/2025 at 3:21 PM, corta765 said:

Yea that is a loser attitude to the max. I am not thrilled with the current situation, but with a new GM I would be very excited what we can do and even with Beane if he has to stay I want to see how they fix this.

Beanie will kick the can down the road some more and sign some backups to 8-10 mil dollar deals. This his motto the last 3 yrs and he won't change it. He's worse then the guy he always criticizes for bad management Whaley. 

[BillsShredder83]

On 11/10/2025 at 3:24 PM, ngbills said:

These extensions are starting to look bad - Milano, Knox, Bernard, Benford, Rousseau, Oliver, Johnson and even Shakir. The Cook deal is one of the best and they resisted doing it. Imagine this a O right now without Cook. They knew going into the season what the plan was and still treated Cook like an interchangeable piece. The cap mngt, free agents, trade deadlines make me wonder what beane is doing. 

I just want to share something I saw yesterday from Cover 1 guys. Bernard is playing hurt right now. I don't think it's any shock, and its its own problem, but he didnt just become a bum overnight at least. 

 

Id been really down on that one as of recent. Im assuming theres been so many injuries they've made him push through, but he had zero explosion and clearly a limp of sorts on the play they showed.

[Billsatlastin2018]

On 11/10/2025 at 3:15 PM, aristocrat said:

Restructure Josh gives us 20 mil. Post June 1 cuts help. I got to 38 mil pretty easily 

Some of this surely must be correct.

 

NFL Teams must now use the LA Dodger ‘Ohtani’ strategy. You are still paying Ohtani 25M/year when his teeth have fallen out at 85 and he’s sitting with a blanket sleeping, while his grandchildren run around him.

 

Whatever the official, officious Cap is- you actively circumvent it to put the best team on the field. This, of course, means that you have a Dodger style GM at the helm. Not some total freaking, hubris filled clown, who believes HE can conjure up a Top 10 WR from the 27th Draft Pick in 2026- rather than trading for one at the deadline!