The Bills remained the busiest team in the NFL this Wednesday as they made a litany of moves to adjust their salary cap heading into the new league year.
While much of that came in the releases of Jordan Poyer, Mitch Morse, Nyheim Hines, Deonte Harty and Siran Neal, as well as the planned post June-1 release of Tre’Davious White, they were able to open up even more cap space today by restructuring the contracts of veteran pass rusher Von Miller and cornerback Rasul Douglas.
Miller, 34, was a shadow of his former self in 2023. Rotating in behind Gregory Rousseau, Leonard Floyd, A.J. Epenesa and Shaq Lawson, Miller was mostly a nonfactor on the Bills defense. While eight sacks in 2022 seemed worth the massive six-year, $120M contract he signed to come to Buffalo, Miller’s ineffectiveness in the wake of his ACL recovery made a restructure all but necessary.
According to Field Yates of ESPN, the Bills converted $7M of his base salary (originally worth $17.15M) into a signing bonus and $8.65M more into incentives. Miller’s new base salary is $1.5M for 2024, but he will reportedly be able to make up to $20M. The move clears $8.65M of cap space.
Douglas, a midseason trade acquisition this past season, was a welcome addition to the secondary, but Buffalo felt a need to offset some of his 2024 cap hit, which was scheduled to be nearly $10M. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that the team converted $1.5M of Douglas’ 2024 base salary, as well as a $2M roster bonus, into a signing bonus.
Buffalo also added three void years in order to spread out cap into later years. In doing so, the Bills were able to clear up another $2.5M of cap space.
Jay Skurski of The Buffalo News had the honor or keeping track of all the team’s financial moves Wednesday, noting the changes to a cap number that started the day $41M over the league’s $255.4M salary cap. Between the restructures of Miller and Douglas and the releases of Poyer, Morse, Hines, Harty and Neal, the Bills were able to clear approximately $37.1M of their $41M deficit.
They should get an additional boost of over $10M from the post June-1 release of White and from the trade of offensive lineman Ryan Bates, but that will be needed to counteract the recent moves to extend safety Taylor Rapp and guard David Edwards and sign quarterback Mitchell Trubisky and punter Matt Haack.
The Bills were much busier than any other team in the NFL Wednesday. They’ll likely continue to adjust here and there with free agency and the draft on the horizon. For now, though, no one can say they aren’t making efforts to get under the league’s new salary cap.
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