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Buffalo's offseason will involve Brandon Beane restructuring some current player contracts to free up cap space.
The Bills' GM and President of Football Operations got the ball rolling this week, restructuring offensive tackle Spencer Brown’s contract as a measure to open salary cap space before the new league year opens on Mar. 11
The NFL informed teams that the salary cap will rise significantly, with the 2026 cap expected to be between $301.2 million and $305.7 million. Prior to the restructure, the Bills entered the offseason $10 million over the cap, per Spotrac, and Brown was set to count $19.3 million against it.
When a player's contract is restructured, it takes most of the money that's owed to that player in the current year and converts it to a prorated bonus. That bonus can be spread out evenly over a maximum of five years, and the base salary in the current year is the veteran's minimum plus any amount that's been prorated. Because of this, restructuring has become a cap space and savings measure to free up needed money.
Another method is to include void years that push the prorated bonus money back so it's due when the contract expires in which the contract expires.
Without adding extra void years, here are the Bills' current restructuring candidates after Brown:
QB Josh Allen
Allen's current contract was designed to be flexible for these types of adjustments in order to field a competitive roster. His base salary can be prorated over the next five years to create $12.16 million in cap savings.
OT Dion Dawkins
Dawkins is the next member of the O-Line after Brown, who can help the Bills and similarly free up what would be $10.624 million in cap savings. He and Brown led the team in penalties last season.
DT Ed Oliver
Oliver could help free up $8.55 million and, like fellow veteran leader and lineman Dawkins, set an example of helping the team.
TE Dawson Knox
Knox is also a vet and a leader on the team, who, despite being one of Allen's top and longest tenured targets in the passing game and part of the Bills' elite TE room and blocking group, has been floated by the media as a cut candidate due to his cap hit. A restructure instead could free up $6.9 million.
WR Josh Palmer
Palmer has not been with the Bills a long time, but has missed time due to injury. He offers $6.5 million in potential savings with a restructure in goodwill toward the front office that signed him to a three-year deal in free agency.
CB Taron Johnson
Johnson's quality as a person off the field and talent on it that rise to the top of his position group in the league should keep him in Buffalo despite the scheme changes in new DC Jim Leonhard's defense, provided the economics are worked out in a reworked deal that could free up $5.56 million.
DE Michael Hoecht
Hoecht's first season in Buffalo after inking a multi-year deal did not go as either side planned or expected, and that's putting it lightly. He missed the beginning of the season with a suspension and won fans and coaches over in limited action, showing the relentless play for which the front office signed him to the team. Unfortunately, he was lost to a season-ending injury, but he could help create $3.619 million in a restructure this offseason.
DE Greg Rousseau
Another leader on offense, Rousseau, can help chip in and do his part to help the cause by freeing up $2.964 million in savings. Groot and the defense need some help in the pass rush, and helping the cap situation first could support bringing that help to the trenches.
This article originally appeared on Bills Wire: More Bills contract restructure candidates after Spencer Brown