The 2022 NFL offseason… hasn’t even yet begun. Super Bowl 56 is about to kickoff next weekend between the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams.
Technically the new league year doesn’t begin until a month or so after that, but at that time is when the unofficial offseason begins. Being so close to it, the Buffalo Bills do have a little work to do in terms of spending money.
According to Spotrac, the Bills need to find some cap space. Their figures show the Bills with $-1.37 million in salary cap space.
Translation: Buffalo is just a bit over the cap as things currently sit.
While that reality might be new to you, it isn’t for Brandon Beane.
Buffalo’s general manager looked ahead to his team’s potential free agent spending during his end of season press conference.
He was candid.
“We’ll still have to make some moves but I wouldn’t see us being like big spenders but we’ll definitely look to fill some spots from the outside as well as retain some of our guys,” Beane said.
Last offseason, owners and players agreed to a $208M salary cap for next season. That went up from $182.5M in 2021. That happened to be the first time the salary cap dropped in many years, which was attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While the Bills being in the negative or even close to it might cause a reason for concern, it shouldn’t. While in the red, Buffalo actually has the 24th most cap space in the NFL, meaning there are eight teams in even tougher spots currently.
And the Bills are not the New Orleans Saints. Currently with the least amount of cap space in the league, the Saints are $76 million over the 2022 salary cap presently.
Beane himself also gives one a sense of calm about the situation as well. With the dip in last year’s cap, the GM had to restructure numerous contracts to get his team under the cap a year ago. It worked well as Beane proved to be a master at retooling contracts.
Plus, the Bills are mainly over the cap because of quarterback Josh Allen’s long-term extension. That’s a great reason to be in a tough pinch against the cap, isn’t it?
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