6 moves the Buffalo Bills can make to help 2021 salary cap situation

The changes to the salary cap for 2021 could present some challenges for the Buffalo Bills but these are five moves they could make this offseason or next offseason to help.

The NFL and NFLPA agreed to a plan moving forward last week to account for changes due to the pandemic. They agreed to protocol changes for training camp and no preseason this year, however they also agreed to salary cap changes that will impact past the 2020 season for the Buffalo Bills and the rest of the league.

The two sides agreed to keep the salary cap unchanged for this season and set a salary cap floor of $175 million for 2021. This number could be higher if the financial losses are not as great but as Nick Shook of NFL.com notes this gives each team a baseline.

In recent years, the salary cap has jumped by about 10% year over year so the fact that it is going to drop by over $20 million creates challenges. The good news for the Buffalo Bills is that they are actually in decent shape thanks to the work of general manager Brandon Beane.

According to Over the Cap, the Buffalo Bills have just over $15 million in available cap space in 2021, which includes any carryover from 2020. However, they have some key players becoming free agents, like Dion Dawkins and Matt Milano, which would leave almost no cap space to add additional players if they somehow were able to fit both into the available cap.

For the Buffalo Bills front office, they need to start formulating a plan now about potential ways to create additional cap space for next offseason. These are five moves the team could make to help their cap situation in 2021.

*All salary cap figures courtesy of Spotrac unless otherwise noted.