The Buffalo Bills went all-in with their roster over the last three seasons, spending draft capital and hundreds of millions of dollars to try and win a Super Bowl. After falling short again, the cost of competing is now catching up to the Bills.
Buffalo enters the offseason with one of the worst salary-cap situations in the NFL. After years of investing in aging players and handing out massive contract extensions, the Bills’ window of competing with their biggest stars is now closed.
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- Buffalo Bills cap space 2024: -$51 million
While teams like the Kansas City Chiefs and Green Bay Packers have managed to overhaul their rosters without taking a step back, Buffalo’s circumstances in 2024 will make that very challenging. Just to become compliant with the NFL salary cap, the Bills’ front office may need to part ways with several starters.
Examining Buffalo’s situation, Tony Pauline of Sportskeeda mentioned All-Pro cornerback Tre’Davious White and future Hall of Fame inductee Von Miller as potential Bills’ cap casualties in 2024. Other starters and All-Pro talents will also need to restructure their contracts.
| Player | Pre-June 1 Cut | Post-June 1 |
| Tre’Davious White | $6.073 million cap savings | $10.208 million cap savings |
| Von Miller | -$8.717 million cap savings | $6.7 million cap savings |
The obvious decision if Buffalo decides to move on from White is to designate him as a post-June 1 release. The former Pro Bowl cornerback’s departure would shave $10.2 million off the sheet, leaving smaller dead cap hits spread out in 2024 ($6.234 million) and 2025 ($4.134 million). Considering White has only played in 10 games over the last two seasons due to season-ending injuries, his days in Buffalo may be numbered.
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As for Miller, the decision becomes a bit more complicated. Designating him as a post-June 1 release would free up $6.7 million in cap space. However, Buffalo would incur a $17.08 million dead cap charge in 2024 followed by a $15.417 million dead cap hit in 2025.
Similar to Stefon Diggs, whose contract makes a departure unlikely at this time, Buffalo’s final decision with Miller will likely be a contract restructure. Depending on how significant the deal is restructured, it will need the player’s approval and any money freed up in 2024 would still need to be paid later.
- Stefon Diggs contract: $27.854 million cap hit in 2024, $18.5 million salary in 2024
- Pre-June 1 Cut/Trade: -$3.242 million cap hit
- Post-June 1 Cut/Trade: $19.005 million cap savings in 2024, $22.247 million dead cap
Dawson Knox ($14.3 million cap hit), Dion Dawkins ($16.6 million cap hit) and Josh Allen ($47.056 million cap hit) will also likely have their contracts restructured by Buffalo this offseason. All of this, of course, is to just get Buffalo under the 2024 NFL salary cap. Because of the position the Bills are in, many of their top free agents likely won’t be back in 2024.
