Buffalo Bills Cut Candidates (2024)

Jordan Poyer

This might be the end of the Safety duo as we know it. With Micah Hyde becoming a free agent, and his NFL future in doubt, the Bills likely won’t bring him back. By releasing Jordan Poyer before June 1st, Buffalo can save $5.4M. Poyer, who turns 33 in April, has one more year left on his contract, and showed some signs of slowing down last season. With 10 draft picks in this year’s draft, and the extra money they would save from Poyer’s contract, the Bills can rebuild their Safety room and get younger there.

Nyheim Hines

After the Buffalo Bills traded for Hines at the 2022 trade deadline, he saw the majority of his on field reps at kick returner. Before free agency opened up last year, Hines restructured his deal to help the Bills in 2023. However, after suffering a torn ACL last summer and missing the season, that leaves his Bills future in doubt. Releasing him would save the team $4.98M in cap space. Unfortunately, the Hines trade hasn’t seemed to work out in the way that Buffalo had hoped. Hines becomes a free agent in 2025, and the Bills seem to have found their future RB duo in James Cook and Ty Johnson, leaving Hines as the odd man out. It may be best for the Bills to wash their hands of this trade a year sooner.

Deonte Harty

The Bills took a swing at receiver last year, bringing in the speedy slot receiver from New Orleans. Going into the season, it looked like Harty would be a great addition to the offense, and more than just a gadget guy. But he ended up being… just a gadget guy. Buffalo released their former gadget guy in Isaiah McKenzie, and signed a more expensive replacement in Harty. Unfortunately, Hines got injured and Harty took over his returner role, leaving Harty without an offensive identity, and his possible replacement, Khalil Shakir, as the future in the slot. Releasing Harty saves the Bills $4.1M in cap space.

Overview

Releasing these three players would save the Buffalo Bills a total of $14.48M cap space for free agency. That won’t be nearly enough to get under the salary cap, but the Bills can rework some contracts as well, such as Josh Allen’s deal, and extend players such as Dion Dawkins. On Monday, Mike Florio reported the salary cap could jump to between $243M-$250M per team, which would be at least a $20M jump from where we were at last year. If that does happen, the Bills’ salary cap hurdle will be much easier.