Buffalo Bills are under 2023 salary cap, but more moves may be needed

Monday was a busy news day for NFL fans, as the league’s negotiation period leading into the start of the new league year on Wednesday afternoon paved the way for several reported, pending transactions — many including big-name players.

The Buffalo Bills were not spared from this news cycle; yesterday alone, they re-signed three of their own players (linebacker Tyler Matakevich, cornerback Cam Lewis, and punter Sam Martin), reportedly agreed to terms with free-agent interior offensive lineman Connor McGovern of the Dallas Cowboys, and said goodbye to two of their own free agents, quarterback Case Keenum (who signed with the Houston Texans) and linebacker Tremaine Edmunds (who moves on to the Chicago Bears).

Simultaneously, general manager Brandon Beane has been working to get under the salary cap by Wednesday afternoon’s 4 p.m. EDT deadline — and has done so as of Monday evening, when the team re-structured the contracts of quarterback Josh Allen and edge defender Von Miller. Those moves alone cleared nearly $32 million in cap space; add in pending re-structured deals for running back Nyheim Hines and defensive tackle Tim Settle, as well as a two-year contract extension for linebacker Matt Milano, and the Bills have moved just under $40 million off of the books for the 2023 season.

Where does that leave them vis-à-vis cap space heading into tomorrow? Noting that there is still an element of estimation to this, with contract details not fully reported for several of these pending transactions, Spotrac.com has the Bills with $10.8 million free, while OverTheCap.com has them closer to $8.5 million. The Milano and Hines deals have the most potential to impact those calculations in a positive direction, with details on those re-worked deals still limited as of this writing. And, as always, if the Bills are looking to make a splash, there are more moves that the team can make to further increase their cap space.

Cap space cleared: $39.71 million (estimated)

• QB Josh Allen re-structure clears $21.14 million
• EDGE Von Miller re-structure clears $10.67 million
• LB Matt Milano extension clears $6 million (reported)
• RB Nyheim Hines re-structure clears $1.3 million (reported)
• DT Tim Settle re-structure clears $600,000 (reported)

Cap space allocated: $7.49 million (estimated)

• OG Connor McGovern contract has a 2023 cap hit of $4 million
• LB Tyler Matakevich contract has a 2023 cap hit of $1.83 million
• P Sam Martin contract has a 2023 cap hit of $1.66 million

The re-signing of cornerback Cam Lewis will add to this total, as well, but the terms of that contract have not yet been reported anywhere.

New-team cap hits of departed players: $17.55 million (estimated)

• QB Case Keenum has a 2023 cap hit of $2.85 million for the Houston Texans
• LB Tremaine Edmunds has a 2023 cap hit of $14.7 million for the Chicago Bears