Buffalo Bills: PFF picks Mario Addison as the team’s cut candidate
The Buffalo Bills are undoubtedly going to have to cut some key players from last year’s team to free up cap space for this offseason. All indications are that the salary cap is expected to fall between $180 and $185 million but more than likely closer to $180 million.
According to Spotrac, the Bills would have just over $3 million in cap space if it does end up being $185 million. However, that is not enough cap space to even bring back their own free agents when considering the team has free agents like Matt Milano, Daryl Williams, and Jon Feliciano let alone try to sign other free agents.
This is why the Bills are likely going to have to release some players and according to Pro Football Focus, one of the top candidates is defensive end Mario Addison. If the Bills release him now it would result in just over $6 million in cap space but if they use a June 1st designation that savings increases to $8 million with only $2 million in dead cap space.
"Addison will be 34 years old for the 2021 campaign and has now seen his overall grade drop by 6.5 points in consecutive seasons, from 69.9 in 2018 to 63.4 in 2019 and finally to 56.9 in 2020. He’s trending in the wrong direction as Father Time catches up to him, and Buffalo has to get younger at edge rusher."
This past season was certainly a disappointment for the veteran pass rusher. Prior to joining the Buffalo Bills, Mario Addison had at least nine or more sacks in each of the past four seasons while this past year he finished with only five.
However, I don’t necessarily agree with Mario Addison being the top cut candidate for the Buffalo Bills. The defensive end position was one that they need to get better at but if they were to miss out on J.J. Watt or didn’t like the options in free agency, the team may wait on releasing Mario Addison.
The position would lose significant depth if they were to release Addison without additional players to replace him. The front office instead could release one of their defensive tackles (Quinton Jefferson or Vernon Butler) or John Brown to free up similar cap space but wouldn’t have as much impact on the roster.
Next. Bills trade up in latest seven round mock draft. dark
The reason is that they already have their replacements on the team at those positions. The same can’t be said confidently at the defensive end position. If the Buffalo Bills do find that replacement, then Mario Addison makes sense as a potential cut but the team needs to be confident in who replaces him before making that move.