Thanksgiving Day has come and gone and now we are transitioning into the final month of the year, and Christmas is up next. Week 13 kicked off yesterday with a three game slate and we have more football today at 3PM EST between the Las Vegas Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs.
The day after Thanksgiving tends to be a busy day of the year where people go shopping for the holidays. Lots of money gets spent all over the place. As for NFL teams, we have seen teams spent lots of money to improve their teams before and during the season. Then we have teams like the Dallas Cowboys who supposedly don’t want to pay for an elite running back like Derrick Henry, and they are paying the price for it.
With today being the busiest shopping day of the year, it might be a good idea to take a look at the Bills’ salary cap situation going into the final stretch of the regular season. Using Spotrac, we take a look at the Bills’ total cap, cap space, and dead cap.
Bills' salary cap situation is not the greatest
According to Spotrac, the Bills’ total cap is $255.2 million which ranks 6th in the league. The Bills have paid a lot of players for many seasons and it starts to add up over time. With how much money they currently have in their salary cap, it is second to last in the league with just $1.37 million. That’s all they have to work with.
Now their dead cap number should be the biggest fact that Bills fans look at. Due to the Bills trading away Stefon Diggs this past offseason, their dead cap number currently sits at $70 million which is the third-highest only behind the Giants and Broncos. When the Diggs trade happened, Buffalo took on a dead cap hit of over $30 million. That should show you how Diggs was thought of in Buffalo…
Brandon Beane has made some great financial decisions but he also has made some bad ones. The worst one that stands out the most is Von Miller’s contract, which was a six-year, $120 million deal (but the Bills could financially get out of it after this season). However, Josh Allen’s contract looks like a bargain because of how expensive the quarterback market has become since Allen’s contract extension in 2021.
The Bills are going to be strapped for cash for a little bit and that is why development of young drafted players is going to be important to keep up success. Buffalo hasn’t had the chance to make any big splashes in free agency due to the limited cap they have. However, the continuity and development that the Bills have created has been in their favor and shown why they are one of the best teams in the league.