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The Buffalo Bills were movers and shakers during the first wave of free agency, signing numerous players including All-Pro Von Miller.
When the dust settled, the Bills then started to tinker with some contracts already on their ledger. In doing so, Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane freed up some much needed salary cap space.
While one might expect the Bills to have amongst the least amount of salary cap space in the NFL, that’s not the case.
Players involved in these transactions were Buffalo wide receiver Stefon Diggs and offensive lineman Ryan Bates.
Diggs signed a four-year extension. That new contract ended up lowering his current cap hit.
Bates took an offer sheet from the Chicago Bears and the Bills matched it. Beane then restructured his contract to save on the salary cap in 2022.
The Diggs deal opened up around $6.2 million on this year’s cap. Bates’ new contract found an addition $1.125M.
Now for the overall look. Currently Buffalo has $8.2M in salary cap space, per Spotrac. That’s the 21st most in the NFL.
With that $8.2M in new found space, don’t expect Beane to start dipping into the free agent pool again just yet.
Following the 2022 NFL draft that typically happens. But first… the draft.
There, Buffalo holds eight total picks.
Those players will have to be signed and added to the salary cap. That total could cost the team somewhere north of $3M, according to Over The Cap.
But at least the Bills can now afford to give their rookies a chance to find a roster spot.
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