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Jake Kumerow contract details and the NFL’s veteran salary benefit

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When the Buffalo Bills re-signed wide receiver Jake Kumerow, they did it in the cheapest way possible, per Spotrac’s reporting. That means that Kumerow really wanted to be in Buffalo and also that the Bills were able to convince him to take the lowest possible contract.

Kumerow will make $1.035 million in base salary, the minimum for a player with more than four years of service in the NFL. His cap hit won’t be that same number, though. Instead, he will only count $895,000 against the cap—the same number as a second-year player in the NFL.

Buffalo is utilizing the veteran salary benefit, formerly called the minimum salary benefit or the veteran minimum benefit, it allows older players to play at a reduced salary-cap hit in order to make it more likely for them to stick on a roster as opposed to the team going for a younger player merely for the cap savings.

The benefit also allows a player to make an additional $137,500 in signing or roster bonus, but Buffalo did not add that to Kumerow’s contract. He’ll have to make the roster to see any of his contract money.

Defensive tackle Eli Ankou also signed on for the veteran salary benefit earlier this offseason after spending 2021 on the practice squad.