Salary Cap Situation for the Buffalo Bills
The Bills are not in a terrible salary cap situation. They are currently $17.5 million over the cap for 2023, but can easily get under the cap with a number of no-brainer moves. Restructuring contracts for Josh Allen and Von Miller alone will get them under the cap.
Potential restructures for Matt Milano, Dion Dawkins, Tre’Davious White, and potentially Stephon Diggs could provide significant wiggle room for 2023. All that is before even discussing trades (Ed Oliver, anyone?) and releasing players such as Nyheim Hines, Isaiah McKenzie or AJ Epenesa.
The Buffalo Bills problem is not whether they could afford to make room for Poyer, but whether it would be wise to do so. Kicking money down the road by ensuring bonuses and restructuring contracts only creates a potential problem for them when the time comes to extend their window of contention.
While we can assume the NFL salary cap will likely increase to around $240 million next year, restructuring contracts will take up a big chunk of that increase. And that doesn’t even address the fact that the Bills will be in the exact same situation next offseason with Micah Hyde, which brings us to the third reason not to re-sign Poyer: