Bills Are Expected to Split Up With $19.5 Million Lineman This Off-Season
After overcoming a formidable opponent in the previous campaign, the Buffalo Bills finished with five straight victories to secure a playoff spot and ultimately capture the AFC East with a victory against the Miami Dolphins in the season finale.
The Bills will have another problem this offseason as they try to escape a salary cap crisis, even though the task may not be quite as tough. The Bills won’t be making any big free agency acquisitions, general manager Brandon Beane has already stated. Instead, the team will make a number of more measured, lesser signings that were more calculated than they were during the previous offseason.
According to one source, the Bills will figure out a way to generate cap room, but they could have to cut ties with one of the offensive line’s key players to do it.
Bills Might Exchange Beginning at Center
The Bills have a lot of work ahead of them to get under the salary cap for the 2023 campaign, according to Bleacher Report. The report also pointed out that two high-paid but underperforming players, Stefon Diggs and edge rusher Von Miller, are basically locked in because it would cost a dead cap to trade or release them.
According to the article, center Mitch Morse, who inked a two-year, $19.5 million contract extension that keeps him in Buffalo until the 2024 campaign, would be a more sensible trade target.
“Mitch Morse remains a reliable center, but there are less expensive options and trading him would free up $8.5 million,” the article stated.
Trading Morse would free up cap space for the Bills and probably result in a draft pick as well, but it would also open up a spot at one of the team’s most reliable spots. The same group of players started all 17 regular-season games and both playoff games for the Bills last season, meaning there were no significant injuries to the offensive line.
An Additional Choice for Mitch Morse
According to Joe Buscaglia of The Athletic, the Bills may be able to rescue some salary space from Morse’s contract while keeping him with the team. Buscaglia pointed out that the Bills might add an empty year to Morse’s 2025 contract—a tactic they have occasionally employed in order to reduce salary space.
According to Buscaglia, the Bills may save $5.01 million by making this change.
“The Morse amount added to 2025 would give them a nice boost to their cap space in 2024 and wouldn’t be so overwhelming that it puts them in a bad spot,” Buscaglia said. “And with Morse still performing at a high level, there might be an incentive to agree to a one-year contract extension and continue to benefit from subsequent void years added through 2027 in order to reduce the potential 2025 cap hit from the added void years.”
In order to clear cap space, the organization may make other moves. Many have Josh Allen’s contract restructured in mind. Pro Football Talk’s Peter King also proposed that the Bills rework Diggs’ deal, asking him to take a salary cut following a season in which he experienced a precipitous decline in output in the second half of the campaign.
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