The Buffalo Bills matched the Chicago Bears’ offer sheet for Restricted Free Agent Ryan Bates, meaning they agreed to the same contract in order to keep him. That didn’t last long, however, because the Bills and Bates have already agreed to restructure it.
Bates was set to make $3 million in fully guaranteed base salary in 2022. The Bills have instead given him $1.5 million in a restructure bonus to spread out that cap hit over the four years of the deal. The move saves Buffalo $1.125 million on their 2022 cap and they needed every penny of that. Before the Stefon Diggs contract extension, they had less than $300,000 in cap space.
Because the money was fully guaranteed, it was already going to be paid so it didn’t matter when. Bates received a total of $8.85 million in fully guaranteed money as part of the deal, which is the $2 million signing bonus plus his salaries in 2022 and 2023.
The structure means Bates is guaranteed to be on the roster for at least the next two seasons, then we will see.
It’s a pretty even deal, too. He gets $5 million in cash in 2022 and then $4 million in cash in each subsequent season. That makes it a tad front-loaded, which makes sense as the Bears wanted to disincentivize the Bills from signing it.
Here are the yearly breakdowns:
2022
Pro-rated signing bonus: $500,000
Pro-rated restructure bonus: $375,000
Workout bonus: $50,000
Base salary: $1.45 million (fully guaranteed)
Cap hit: $2.375 million
2023
Pro-rated signing bonus: $500,000
Pro-rated restructure bonus: $375,000
Workout bonus: $100,000
Base salary: $3.9 million (fully guaranteed)
Cap hit: $4.875 million
2024
Pro-rated signing bonus: $500,000
Pro-rated restructure bonus: $375,000
Roster bonus: $500,000
Workout bonus: $100,000
Base salary: $3.4 million
Cap hit: $4.875 million
Dead cap: $1.75 million
Savings if cut: $3.125 million
2025
Pro-rated signing bonus: $500,000
Pro-rated restructure bonus: $375,000
Roster bonus: $500,000
Workout bonus: $100,000
Base salary: $3.4 million
Cap hit: $4.875 million
Dead cap: $875,000
Savings if cut: $4 million
Next read
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- Bills tender OG Ryan Bates at Right of First Refusal
- Bills plan on tendering OG Ryan Bates
- Contract projection: We expect the Bills to tender Ryan Bates
- All-22 Analysis: Ryan Bates in 2021
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