Buffalo, New York Sean McDermott considered how this moment marked a last chance as he drove to One Bills Drive for the Buffalo Bills’ Divisional Round matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs.
“One last time,” he added, “for [safeties Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde] to run outta the tunnel again and hear their names called.”
It’s the end of an era for the Bills. The future called, bringing with it injuries and large contracts that will force roster changes.
The Bills made a number of moves on Wednesday to clear cap space and usher in a new era. They released starters and leaders in Poyer, centre Mitch Morse, and cornerback Tre’Davious White, according to sources. The season concluded with yet another playoff loss to the Chiefs.
Poyer and Hyde were signed as free agents in 2017, while White was the first draft pick chosen under McDermott. Hyde, who openly considered retiring during the offseason, is scheduled to become a free agent next week.
The Bills ended a lengthy postseason drought in 2017 and have
Most of the moves made this week were logical steps for a team that entered Wednesday more than $40 million over the cap. General manager Brandon Beane has been upfront about a desire to not push too much money down the road.
“We’re working through getting under and then how much can we create without totally piling up a huge mess, you know, in ’25 or ’26,” Beane said at the NFL combine last week.
So, the Bills put in the work on “getting under,” with the combined moves clearing almost the entire amount the team needed to get cap compliant for the start of the league year, in addition to $10.2 million in cap space created in June with White designated as a post-June 1 release.
The team also moved on from key special teams player Siran Neal, running back Nyheim Hines, wide receiver Deonte Harty. Key re-structures are also being done to the contracts of both pass-rusher Von Miller — a significant move as the splash to sign Miller in 2022 impacted the roster in several ways — and cornerback Rasul Douglas.
They get the Bills much closer to the cap number with only one major restructure in Miller, soon to be 35, while also not pushing his money down the road. The other obvious restructure to come is to Allen’s contract, which could now theoretically be the only one the Bills need to do.
Signing Allen to a significant contract early, extending Stefon Diggs in a big way in 2022 and bringing in Miller as the Bills worked to make the steps needed to reach the Super Bowl put the Bills in the cap situation they were in with the need to clear space. Ultimately, however, the team fell short with poor injury luck and just not reaching that final stage. Now the quest continues to stay as competitive as possible, but still on an annual basis, not consistently in tough cap spots.
The choices that the Bills make this offseason are crucial to continue to build around Allen, with Wednesday’s moves already showing a progression to a younger roster with 11 projected draft picks awaiting Beane in April and now, the beginning of cap space to make some moves in free agency.
When White tore his right Achilles in Week 4 — the second major injury in less than three years to the 2019 All-Pro — it put in doubt if the Bills could afford to keep him on the contract he signed when healthy and how he would perform in the future, especially after Douglas was acquired at the trade deadline from the Green Bay Packers and performed well alongside 2022 sixth-round pick Christian Benford. Injuries can’t be predicted, especially in the nature that they happened to White, but the cap-saving decisions made Wednesday became necessary because of the injuries and push to win in a certain time.
