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Official NFL salary cap numbers are good news for Buffalo Bills

Originally posted on Buffalo Bills on SI
By Ronnie Eastham | Last updated Feb 28, 2025 10:53 AM ET

A month ago, the NFL's 2025 cap was projected to be around $275 million, and then it was reported that the new cap would be between $277.5 million and $281.5 million.

Well, now we can stop guessing as the NFL made it official, advising its 32 teams that the new cap will be $279.2 million. This is great news for the Bills, who feel they are very close to getting over the hump and into the Super Bowl, but they have several decisions yet to make, extending Khalil Shakir took care of one of them.

The additional cap space will help the Bills pursue high-value players in free agency or make it easier to acquire a player via trade, such as the Browns' Myles Garrett, and be able to sign him to an extension.

The new cap doesn't take effect until the new league year, which begins March 12, but expect Brandon Beane and the Bills to get a couple more extensions done in the next few weeks, which could include a new deal for James Cook.

"Part of it is what do we need to get into the league year, which is coming up fast in a couple of weeks, and then part of it is how do you want to structure things, what moves do you want to make, what are out there?" said Beane earlier this week in Indianapolis

OverTheCap.com projects the Bills remain over the new cap number by more than $10.2 million. Meanwhile, Beane shouldn't have any problem becoming cap-compliant and freeing up a significant amount of cap space for the 2025 season. Simply restructuring Josh Allen's deal frees up more than $11 million. Dion Dawkins is also a candidate for a contract restructure, and that would save another $9.8 million. If the Bills restructure Allen, Dawkins, and Ed Oliver ($8.7 million savings), they save nearly $30 million on the cap. We haven't even discussed the options with Von Miller.

Other restructure candidates include Dawson Knox and Matt Milano. The Bills can also find more money by getting extensions done for Greg Rousseau and James Cook. This could net savings of over $12 million.

The Bills have options if they want to pursue a big-name in free agency or execute a trade for the previously mentioned Garrett, or Micah Parson, Trey Hendrickson or Maxx Crosby. They not only have the draft assets to pull it off, but they'll also have the money to get an extension done.

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