Reports from the NFL combine last week surfaced surrounding Buffalo Bills wide receiver Cole Beasley. According to those, the slot playmaker has asked to be dealt and the team granted him permission to find a trade partner.
It remains to be seen if that happens. It’s debatable if a team would be willing to part with assets for a receiver that will be 33 next season.
However, the biggest aspect here might be Beasley’s contract.
If Buffalo finds a suitor for him, that team will take on a sizeable contract. The exact details of those numbers come to us via Spotrac.
In acquiring Beasley, his new team would take on the final year of his contract. While only a one-year deal, Beasley will have a cap hit of $6.1 million in 2022 and he has a $1M bonus due on March 20.
Because of the bonus, the Bills will likely want to make a decision on Beasley’s future before then. It makes little sense to pay him it only to cut him a few days later–Consider that date as a bit of a deadline.
For Buffalo, trading Beasley would make plenty of sense in terms of their own salary cap. The Bills would take on only $1.5M in dead cap space while removing that $6.1M total.
That would create $4.6M in additional cap space for Buffalo. The Bills sorely need that considering the Bills are slightly over the 2022 salary cap as things currently stand.
Moving Beasley would put the Bills back in the green.
Now for the reason why many don’t think the Bills will find a trade partner… and why it doesn’t really matter: If Beasley is cut by Buffalo, that same $4.6M will come off their salary cap.
Not only do the Bills know that, so do other teams.
Once a free agent, Beasley’s contract is ripped up and a new team doesn’t have to get him to agree to a contract restructure or pay him his current deal.
They’d just need him to agree to any deal. A contract which would likely be smaller than his current one.
If Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane does find a way to get a late-round draft pick for Beasley, it would be some superior work.
But simply letting the receiver go is a smart move as well.
Beasley did have a productive 2021 season, which is why Beane said he’d welcome the receiver back next year.
Still, if Beasley is halfway out the door, taking the cap savings and moving on is a good play. The Bills have dealt with enough headlines surrounding Beasley off the field already. Cut the losses, take the space, and move on.
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