Cap Space - 53 Roster - Before PS

[ColoradoBills]

Spotrac has things updated.

Beane has $11.3M before signing PS tomorrow.

He will have a few bucks to play with.

 

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/overview

[ColoradoBills]

Looks like the PS will cost around $4.5M this year.

Leaves over $6M.  Need a couple million minimum for the season.

[SoonerBillsFan]

Spend nothing.  Keep it for injuries or roll over to next year.

[BillsFan130]

Roll it over to next year or save it for the trade deadline if there are any key injuries/roster deficiencies 

[Breakout Squad]

I really hope most the dead money comes off the books next year. It’s frustrating not having cap room for a savvy move. 

[ColoradoBills]

20 minutes ago, Breakout Squad said:

I really hope most the dead money comes off the books next year. It’s frustrating not having cap room for a savvy move. 

 

Dead money is next to nothing right now.  Looking good.

[co_springs_billsfan]

1 hour ago, ColoradoBills said:

 

Dead money is next to nothing right now.  Looking good.

Next year looks good for dead cap, but overall cap we are way over.  This year pretty crappy for dead cap.  Gonna try to enjoy this season before I start worrying about next off-season!!

[Big Blitz]

2 hours ago, Breakout Squad said:

I really hope most the dead money comes off the books next year. It’s frustrating not having cap room for a savvy move. 

 

Yep

 

 

 

[Pete]

8 hours ago, Big Blitz said:

 

Yep

 

 

 

301,200,000  salary cap total

46,368,000 dead cap.

 

15.6% of Bills Salary Cap is Dead Cap

[Utah John]

The dead cap money is like one of us kvetching about our credit card balance.  Every year Beane figures the Bills have a legitimate but not overwhelming chance to win it all, so he makes deals that push player costs out into the future.  That dead cap money is from players who helped the team in years past, and the only way Beane could get them was to push the costs into the future. Just like one of us saying we really need a new car so we'll just take on loan payments.  

[Kirby Jackson]

Now that we have established “the cap isn’t real,” dead money is the new differentiator. You can always create cap space but if you pick the wrong people and have to move on, it becomes difficult. You can rearrange the chairs all you need for a while. If that ever becomes a big dead number your hands are tied a little.
 

That’s why not converting Dawkins this year was so important. Most moves, alone, can’t cripple you. Something like Tua is crippling. Dawkins would have been crippling moving forward had they restructured him.  

[BuffaloBillsGospel2014]

16 hours ago, co_springs_billsfan said:

Next year looks good for dead cap, but overall cap we are way over.  This year pretty crappy for dead cap.  Gonna try to enjoy this season before I start worrying about next off-season!!

 

Great I can't wait for Josh Palmer 2.0. 

7 hours ago, Utah John said:

The dead cap money is like one of us kvetching about our credit card balance.  Every year Beane figures the Bills have a legitimate but not overwhelming chance to win it all, so he makes deals that push player costs out into the future.  That dead cap money is from players who helped the team in years past, and the only way Beane could get them was to push the costs into the future. Just like one of us saying we really need a new car so we'll just take on loan payments.  

 

All teams do this, it's not exclusive to just the Bills but some teams use their money wisely, draft great-top tier players and don't load up on the JAGs and some GM's don't. 

[billsfan89]

6 million after the PS is added plus 3 million for in season emergencies leaves about 3 million to "play with" or carry over for a little extra space for next season. I think if you are looking at a trade deadline move 3 million is actually a good chunk of change to make a trade with in-season. So for many trades the Bills would be willing to make in season they should have enough space to make it work as 3-4 million is sizable for taking in partial base salaries. 

[billsfan89]

7 hours ago, Kirby Jackson said:

Now that we have established “the cap isn’t real,” dead money is the new differentiator. You can always create cap space but if you pick the wrong people and have to move on, it becomes difficult. You can rearrange the chairs all you need for a while. If that ever becomes a big dead number your hands are tied a little.
 

That’s why not converting Dawkins this year was so important. Most moves, alone, can’t cripple you. Something like Tua is crippling. Dawkins would have been crippling moving forward had they restructured him.  

 

Dawkins only has one more year left on his contract so while converting him would have hurt the Bills ability to get out from under some of his money next year the Bills are still carrying a 13 million dollar dead cap hit against a 25 million dollar salary as is (thus if they wanted out they only save 12 million). While it is good to be prudent and not be tied to a bad contract the decision to not convert Dawkins wouldn't be a crippling move if they converted his bonus in my opinion. Losing an extra 8-9 million or so on dead money is bad but not crippling. Now if converting him cause you to go from a 3 million dollar dead cap hit all the way up to 23+ million dead cap hit now you are talking about something that's a bit more steep. 

 

I'm glad they have flexibility but it wasn't a make or break situation and I still think Dawkins is going to be on the roster next season as they don't have an heir apparent thus far (Bowry was drafted to possibly be that guy and early returns are lackluster), Dawkins for one more season gives you the ability to take another draft shot in round 2-3 and get them a year to develop along with getting Bowry another season to simmer. 

[colin]

14 minutes ago, billsfan89 said:

 

Dawkins only has one more year left on his contract so while converting him would have hurt the Bills ability to get out from under some of his money next year the Bills are still carrying a 13 million dollar dead cap hit against a 25 million dollar salary as is (thus if they wanted out they only save 12 million). While it is good to be prudent and not be tied to a bad contract the decision to not convert Dawkins wouldn't be a crippling move if they converted his bonus in my opinion. Losing an extra 8-9 million or so on dead money is bad but not crippling. Now if converting him cause you to go from a 3 million dollar dead cap hit all the way up to 23+ million dead cap hit now you are talking about something that's a bit more steep. 

 

I'm glad they have flexibility but it wasn't a make or break situation and I still think Dawkins is going to be on the roster next season as they don't have an heir apparent thus far (Bowry was drafted to possibly be that guy and early returns are lackluster), Dawkins for one more season gives you the ability to take another draft shot in round 2-3 and get them a year to develop along with getting Bowry another season to simmer. 

I think you have the run of it, but dawkins being on the team in 2027 means his 2026 was better than his 2025

[Don Otreply]

9 hours ago, Pete said:

301,200,000  salary cap total

46,368,000 dead cap.

 

15.6% of Bills Salary Cap is Dead Cap

What will

it be next year?

[Pete]

 

[BuffaloBillyG]

Paying Matt Milano and Joey Bosa a combined $18M dollars this year to not play for us. That will hurt the bottom line. The way it ended up, I wish they would have just passed on Bosa last year and saves the cap space. Hindsight being 20/20 and all...

[LEBills]

19 minutes ago, Pete said:

 

To be fair to Beane, who I thought should have been out with McDermott this offseason, when this article came out the Rams had $79 million in dead cap to the Bills $10 million (second fewest in the league that year) and we’re coming off a 5-12 record.

 

I believe that article mischaracterized what he said too if I remember correctly.

 

As much as I gripe about him as a GM, he is very good at managing the cap where his moves may be onerous but never crippling to us competing.

[billsfan89]

30 minutes ago, Pete said:

 

 

The Bills’ dead money and void years for 2027 look fairly healthy. They’ll enter 2027 with only about $1.4 million in existing dead money and void years: $400,000 in miscellaneous dead money and $1 million from C.J. Gardner Johnson’s void year.

 

Looking at likely and possible roster cuts, two likely cuts would create about $6 million in additional dead cap: $4.8 million for Palmer and $1.2 million for Bass. The Bills also aren’t in particularly bad shape with future void years, ranking in the bottom 10 in the league from 2027 through 2030.

 

The other potential dead cap charges are Dawkins at $13 million, which still generates about $12 million in savings, and Hoecht at $2.4 million, which generates roughly $5 million in savings. Even in a worst case scenario, the Bills would be looking at roughly $23 million in combined dead money and void years, which should still rank among the bottom 10 in the league.

 

The Bills also don’t have many major internal free agents. Torrence is locked up and Kincaid is on his fifth year option, while Dorian Williams, C.J. Gardner Johnson, and Alec Anderson are the only projected free agents who are firm starters. Several role players, including Ty Johnson, Hamlin, Gaines, Corbett, and Cushenberry, could also hit free agency. Since the Bills will likely replace many of those players with younger talent, their nine draft picks, including a projected fifth round compensatory pick, should give them plenty of ammunition to replenish the back end of the roster.

 

Most of the Bills’ current dead money comes from void years for Bosa, Milano, and McGovern’s previous contract, along with the Taron Johnson trade and some smaller charges. So it’s ultimately a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul: the Bills pushed some money into the future, but they were still able to field a good team when the bill came due.

Edited September 1 by billsfan89