The Buffalo Bills have released longtime center Eric Wood, according to John Wawrow of The Associated Press. The move, timed around the June 1st deadline, will place a dead cap hit on Buffalo’s 2018 salary cap for the remainder of Wood’s contract, but will not leave any dead cap space in future seasons, per Wawrow. Wood is on the verge of retirement, after a physical revealed he had a career-ending neck injury.
Wood had planned to retire as a Buffalo Bill earlier this year, but eleventh hour negotiations with his agent and the NFLPA prevented it, as there were concerns that the Bills would ask Wood to return some of his signing bonus if he retired. By cutting Wood, the Bills preserved his bonus, but they’ll take a hefty $10.39M cap hit in 2018 to do so.
Wood was a first round draft pick out of Louisville in 2009. In his nine year career with the Bills, Wood started 120 games, first at right guard, then at center. He was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2015.