Bills 2026 Cap Situation

[Albany,n.y.]

4 hours ago, thenorthremembers said:

There are a lot of moves to consider to make room.    Will likely cut Samuel right away.   

Not after he's Super Bowl MVP. 

Edited January 15 by Albany,n.y.

[Kirby Jackson]

5 hours ago, GASabresIUFan said:

Because we only have 36 players under contract.  We need to sign or acquire starters at all levels of the defense, including a DT, DE, a LB, and S.  If they want to keep McGovern and or Edwards on the OL, that alone could cost 20 million in cap space.  You also are going to lose some cap for bonuses from this season, need 7 mill for draft picks and 7.5 to 10 million for operating space and the practice squad.   

They have the top 51 rule in the offseason and then it jumps to 53 for the regular season. Currently players 37-53 have a combined cap hit of $12.2M. I started typing lots of other numbers and math in here but it got confusing so I’ll leave that as the only number. 
 

You’re not really factoring in contract structure enough and the draft class requires maybe $3m-$4M if picking at the end of the round as the Bills are. They can bring back: Tre, Milano, Bosa, Cam Lewis, Edwards AND McGovern and still have plenty of money to make a big move.
 

The Bills have virtually no dead money in 2026 as of now. They aren’t tied to Von Miller or anything like that anymore. The void year on Bosa, Milano, McGovern and (maybe) Epenesa will be rolled into new deals potentially lowering those hits not adding to them.

 

Long story short, they are actually in good cap space after they make some tweaks to Josh and others. This year their hands won’t be tied in terms of the cap. We should all be very comfortable in how they proceed.
 

They may make a decision to only keep one of McGovern or Edwards but that won’t be because they CAN’T have both pretty easily. They may just decide that with Dawkins and Brown under contract, and Torrence looming, that it makes more sense to plug Anderson, for example into one of those spots. They can then reallocate the cap dollars elsewhere. It’s unlikely to me that they pay 5 OL top of the market when they have cheap depth players with starting talent.

 

They are certainly going to add a number 1 WR. Maybe that’s in the draft, maybe it’s Pickens or maybe it’s a trade. If it is anywhere but the draft you can probably pencil in a $15M cap hit there. Again, they will have no trouble at all making it work.

6 hours ago, GASabresIUFan said:

This team needs defense at all levels.  How has “investing” in FA WRs worked out recently - Palmer, Samuels, Moore etc…..?  

Is that “investing in WR?” He signed a bunch of number 3 and 4 WRs to WR2 contracts. Those are bad decisions. If he signed Kaiir Elam to a FA contract we would be like, “how has investing in defense worked out?” It doesn’t work that way. It matters which PLAYERS you give the money to not which POSITIONS.

Edited January 15 by Kirby Jackson

[Chandler#81]

I’m not ready to throw in the towel on this years Defensive Draft just yet. Granted, you can count on one hand the amount of games the rookies started, but they came with high pedigree. I hope/believe we’ll see significant improvement by July.

[machine gun kelly]

8 hours ago, Einstein's Dog said:

You may not want Beane to spend on a FA WR but I think the majority of people on this board do.  And more importantly I believe Beane has gotten the message and his talk of trading for Waddle indicate Beane is going to aggressively attack the WR room this offseason.

 

Beane has to figure out the finances.  Most teams can handle a QB contract and a reasonable amount to a WR1.

My guess is Beane will need to use the draft and potentially trade up to get a quality one.

[Pete]

My guess is that David Edward’s is the first OL extended.  I’ve heard players speak about how great Edward’s is at communicating.  Edward’s is smart, recognizes blitz packages,  lets everyone know their assignments.  Josh always goes left on Tush Pushes.  Edward’s I believe was Marino’s highest graded Bills OL. I agree it’s McGoverns last year.  SVG will be our next center.

 

 

[artmalibu]

3 hours ago, Kirby Jackson said:

 

 They can bring back: Tre, Milano, Bosa, Cam Lewis, Edwards AND McGovern and still have plenty of money to make a big move.
 

 

 

It is estimated that signing the draft class will be 5 million and currently have 4  million in space.  

 

Please give us your estimated contracts for the guys on the players you have listed.   

[juno999]

7 hours ago, GASabresIUFan said:

Because we only have 36 players under contract.  We need to sign or acquire starters at all levels of the defense, including a DT, DE, a LB, and S.  If they want to keep McGovern and or Edwards on the OL, that alone could cost 20 million in cap space.  You also are going to lose some cap for bonuses from this season, need 7 mill for draft picks and 7.5 to 10 million for operating space and the practice squad.   

I believe McGovern and Edwards are gone via FA. It’s a calculated move based on they have younger cheaper depth at oline, they’ll likely get comp picks in return, and they can address other positional needs. 

[Billzgobowlin]

8 minutes ago, juno999 said:

I believe McGovern and Edwards are gone via FA. It’s a calculated move based on they have younger cheaper depth at oline, they’ll likely get comp picks in return, and they can address other positional needs. 

They have very intentionally developed depth on the line.  I could see restructures like Dawkins but I could see two new starters on the line but McGovern coming back would not surprise me either.  Anderson would be first up to replace Edwards.  My thought separate from this is the Bills getting rid of players that just can't stay healthy like Rapp and Curtis Samuel.  

2 hours ago, Chandler#81 said:

I’m not ready to throw in the towel on this years Defensive Draft just yet. Granted, you can count on one hand the amount of games the rookies started, but they came with high pedigree. I hope/believe we’ll see significant improvement by July.

Dorian Strong was a very unfortunate injury because I truly believe they had big plans for him going forward.  Hopefully he comes back at some point.

[Pete]

3 minutes ago, Billzgobowlin said:

 

Dorian Strong was a very unfortunate injury because I truly believe they had big plans for him going forward.  Hopefully he comes back at some point.

I think the Bills plan was Strong was going to be starting Safety eventually, and Jordan a replacement for Taron eventually.  Beane did good with his 3 DB draft picks.  Dorian is an unfortunate loss.  Godspeed Dorian

[Pete]

2 hours ago, Chandler#81 said:

I’m not ready to throw in the towel on this years Defensive Draft just yet. Granted, you can count on one hand the amount of games the rookies started, but they came with high pedigree. I hope/believe we’ll see significant improvement by July.

TJ, Walker, Max, Jordan, Dorian all flashed.  Next season they will have a season of getting their reps in, learning the NFL.  IMO they all improve next season, if they can stay healthy.  
 

it’s good thing that the last draft, the D got a youth infusion, getting younger and faster. It’s the offense’s turn.  I want 3 new,  above average, outside WR 1-2-3 WRs at the very least, please.  Then they can spend every other $ and draft pick on D.  Just get WR 1-2-3- Get It Done, Beane!

[DanM]

Only significant savings come from cutting Dawkins, Brown, and/or Rousseau.  Depth and his back issues make Brown the one to go.  Constant restructuring is why there is never any cap room.  Let McGovern or Edwards go.  Not both.  Depth is there and cheaper depth or drafting is easy at those positions.  O-line has gotten Allen killed this year so don’t fear changes.

[4th&long]

11 hours ago, thenorthremembers said:

There are a lot of moves to consider to make room.    Will likely cut Samuel right away.   Then have to restructure or cut Taron Johnson, and Taylor Rapp.   As something that could become a bit of a hot topic I think they really have to revisit Ed Oliver's contract.    I dont think they can continue to pay him what he has coming up given the amount of games he has missed.     They can get to 40 million under the cap quite quickly.

A lot of players they can cut ties with because of the amount of games they missed. Personally I would start with kincade, just a complete waste of a roster spot. He was in a walking boot after last weeks game and he didn’t have an injury. Who the hell ever heard of that? On one hand you have josh Allen who takes a beating and never complains and most of the rest of the roster is made of glass. 

[BeyondTheProcess]

This will be a pleasant problem to work throught with the Lombardi sitting in the lobby at One Bills Drive.  

 

First things first.   

 

This board can play GM later.  

[juno999]

38 minutes ago, Billzgobowlin said:

 My thought separate from this is the Bills getting rid of players that just can't stay healthy like Rapp and Curtis Samuel.  

Dorian Strong was a very unfortunate injury because I truly believe they had big plans for him going forward.  Hopefully he comes back at some point.

The Bills need to trim some salary so letting Rapp and Samuel go makes sense. Curious to see if/how Darnell Savage fits into their plans. Hopefully Dorian Strong can make it back but it sounds like a pretty serious injury. 

[Coach Tuesday]

They will have ample cap space.  I am on record here that I would replace the man tasked with filling it.

[Kirby Jackson]

2 hours ago, artmalibu said:

 

It is estimated that signing the draft class will be 5 million and currently have 4  million in space.  

 

Please give us your estimated contracts for the guys on the players you have listed.   

 

1 hour ago, DanM said:

Only significant savings come from cutting Dawkins, Brown, and/or Rousseau.  Depth and his back issues make Brown the one to go.  Constant restructuring is why there is never any cap room.  Let McGovern or Edwards go.  Not both.  Depth is there and cheaper depth or drafting is easy at those positions.  O-line has gotten Allen killed this year so don’t fear changes.

There is a lot of misinformation on the board. That’s not at all accurate. Off the top of my head, convert part of Josh’s salary to a signing bonus, extend Dawkins, Knox and Oliver while releasing Samuel, Rapp and Bass gives you $50M+ of cap space if my math it right. You’re getting $12M or so from Josh, $12M or so from those releases and another $27M of so in space on the extensions. Don’t hold me to those exact numbers as it’s off the top of my head not looking at the table. It’s in that general range though.
 

That’s not even factoring in that you currently have about $25M in a void year on Epenesa, Bosa, Milano and McGovern. If you bring those guys back you can find some savings there too. For example you have an $11M cap hold on Milano for 2026. If you extended him, for 3 years $30M, depending on the structure you may move that $11M 2026 cap number to $8M. 
 

There are a lot of numbers there. I hate playing the “trust me bro” card but I don’t have time now to dig into the specifics. I promise that they will not be constrained by the cap for 2026. From a high level, the Bills don’t have a lot of commitments to guys that won’t be here. They also have a handful of levers mentioned about that can quickly create cap space. The only way that this isn’t the case is if Terry decides he doesn’t want to continue stroking the big checks up front. To this point though, the Bills have been the opposite. They’ve spent actual dollars to create cap space as much as pretty much everyone.

35 minutes ago, Coach Tuesday said:

They will have ample cap space.  I am on record here that I would replace the man tasked with filling it.

That’s a different story and one that I’d agree with. In addition to his spotty draft record, and negligence at WR, he sometimes gets too attached to his own guys leading to bad decisions. The Bernard extension is a perfect example of that.

Edited January 15 by Kirby Jackson

[SoCal Deek]

I think we can all agree that drafting well fixes most, if not all, of your cap space issues. This past year’s class was almost a completely lost year with the exception of a half season from Max and a few flashes from Walker up front. They simply cannot have that happen in 2026. 

[eball]

I’ll get eyerolls for this, but it amuses me that fans get SO into salary cap discussions and whatnot, knowing there isn’t a damn thing any one of us can do about it and that Beane isn’t reading this forum for advice.

 

Whatever happens happens, and we will all still root for the guys wearing our team’s laundry.

 

Carry on!

 

[thenorthremembers]

1 hour ago, 4th&long said:

A lot of players they can cut ties with because of the amount of games they missed. Personally I would start with kincade, just a complete waste of a roster spot. He was in a walking boot after last weeks game and he didn’t have an injury. Who the hell ever heard of that? On one hand you have josh Allen who takes a beating and never complains and most of the rest of the roster is made of glass. 

 

I think it's about looking at every contract and determining if the player was available enough and impactful enough to earn the money he is paid.   With Kincaid his contract for next year is somewhere around the 33rd cap hit for tight ends in 2026.   Even with the missed games I think he's had enough of an impact on the field to be worth that cap hit.   His 5th year option is projected to be around 8.2 million in 2027.   Thats 20th among tight ends.   I think he's worth that as well.  

 

To me the argument about Kincaid starts when you talk about a long term extension.     Give him the 5th year option.  See if he can stay healthy and then talk about the extension. 

 

This probably isn't a popular take but I think Kincaid's issue is he came to tackle football later in life.  He played flag until his junior year in high school.  Part of me wonders if he understands the difference between being hurt and being injured.   That's a personal choice, but it ultimately can be the difference between a long term contract here. 

Edited January 15 by thenorthremembers

[SoCal Deek]

17 minutes ago, eball said:

I’ll get eyerolls for this, but it amuses me that fans get SO into salary cap discussions and whatnot, knowing there isn’t a damn thing any one of us can do about it and that Beane isn’t reading this forum for advice.

 

Whatever happens happens, and we will all still root for the guys wearing our team’s laundry.

 

Carry on!

 

So you’re saying I have the green light to spend the entirety of this year’s draft on the defensive line? 
 

Sincerely 

Mr Beane