Bye Week - The 2025 Cap & Roster

[appoo]

To start, the Bills will carry just $5.4M in Dead cap ($68M this season) with 5 players with Tre White having 4.1M of that.  

 

Total Cap Liability - 266M

Top 51 - 260M

Total Projected Cap space - 8M

Total Roster - 45

 

Probable Cuts

• Von Miller,  8.4M Net cap savings, 15.4M Dead cap
• Jalen Virgil - 1M
• Austin Johnson - 0 (Void year)

 

After Cuts

Top 51 - 250.5M

Cap Space - 9.5M

Roster Size - 43

To get to 54 - 11

 

Extension: 

• Josh Allen - 8 year, 400M, 15M Signing Bonus (Drop his 2025 Base Salary to ~2M, ~ savings of 10M in 2025)
• Gregg Rousseau - 5 year 100M, 20M Signing Bonus (Drop his 2025 Base to ~ 3M, ~ savings of 7M in 2025)
• Rasul Douglas - 2+2 year 8M, 3M Signing Bonus (Drop his 2025 Base to ~1M ~ Savings of 2.5M  in 2025)
• Amari Cooper - 4 year, 60M, 10M Bonus ~ 10M 2025 Cap Hit

 

After Extensions:

Top 51 - 240M

Cap Space - 10M

Roster Size  - 43

 

Restructures

• Ed Oliver ~ 6.5M Savings
• Dawson Knox ~ $7M Savings

 

After Restructures

Top 51 - 225M

Cap Space - 35M

 

Roster Make up

 

Starters Needed

 0

 

Upgrades Desired (obviously up for discussion)

1 - Safety over either Rapp or Cole Bishop

1 - Corner over Rasul Douglas

 

Depth Needed

1 RB

2 WR

1 TE

1 OT

1 DT

1 EDGE

1 Safety

 

Draft Picks - 8 Total

1st Round Pick (Buffalo)

2nd Round Pick (Buffalo)

2nd Round Pick (Minnesota, via Houston)

4th Round Pick (Buffalo)

4th Round Pick (Chicago*)

6th Round Pick (Buffalo)

6th Round Pick (New York Giants)

6th Round Pick (Cleveland)

 

Edited November 22 by appoo

[appoo]

Bills Roster and Cap are in very good shape I think. They can use their draft capital to fill out depth on the back end of the roster, and use their day 1 & 2 picks to potentially upgrade at corner and safety and maybe offer Dorian Williams competition to be Matt Milano's succesor.  Landing Amari Cooper (assuming they can retain him) was huge as it means the Bills won't need to use a premium pick on WR this offseason (and can do so in 2027). 

 

You can also argue that spending some cap space to upgrade AJE might be worth it

Edited November 22 by appoo

[gonzo1105]

I don’t believe the Bills will be big players in Free Agency next year. I expect Douglas to get way bigger a contract than the one you have offered. 
 

I don’t think they resign Cooper unless the deal is favorable to them and 15 mill is fine but I’m not sure they want to go 4 years unless a lot of money is front loaded. 
 

It seems Beane has structured his next mini makeover for 2026. He can get out on a lot of our “bad” contracts and with the core guys mentioned in 2026 plus 10 draft picks in 2025 it makes me think we’re setting up to spend our money in 2026 which also just happens to be in conjunction with the new stadium opening 

[Ya Digg?]

Maybe this is wishful thinking, but I’m not sure an upgrade at safety is needed. Bishop will have a year under his belt, Rapp had played really well so I don’t think there NEEDS to be an upgrade. Certainly bring someone in for competition, perhaps even re-sign Hamlin, but there are other places they should spend money 

[appoo]

3 minutes ago, gonzo1105 said:

I don’t believe the Bills will be big players in Free Agency next year. I expect Douglas to get way bigger a contract than the one you have offered. 
 

I don’t think they resign Cooper unless the deal is favorable to them and 15 mill is fine but I’m not sure they want to go 4 years unless a lot of money is front loaded. 
 

It seems Beane has structured his next mini makeover for 2026. He can get out on a lot of our “bad” contracts and with the core guys mentioned in 2026 plus 10 draft picks in 2025 it makes me think we’re setting up to spend our money in 2026 which also just happens to be in conjunction with the new stadium opening 

They certainly could be saving their powder for 2026 which means they wouldn't have to do any restructures (which would be great). 

 

But mostly this excercise was about thinking through what the Bills CAN free up and what the roster looks like (it's going to look a lot like the won they have now). 

 

I'm not sure a zone heavy corner like Douglas is worth big money, and if it comes to it I think they trust Kair Elam enough to give him a shot as a starter (he'll be in his final year) and they can add depth behind him in a cheaper zone corner

Just now, Ya Digg? said:

Maybe this is wishful thinking, but I’m not sure an upgrade at safety is needed. Bishop will have a year under his belt, Rapp had played really well so I don’t think there NEEDS to be an upgrade. Certainly bring someone in for competition, perhaps even re-sign Hamlin, but there are other places they should spend money 

Probably my own wishful thinking of wanting a pair of higher end athletes back there (Bishop is border line blue-chip athlete)

[CNYfan]

I think we traded our 3rd for Cooper?

[appoo]

2 minutes ago, CNYfan said:

I think we traded our 3rd for Cooper?

updated! 

 

Sent a 3rd and 2026 7th and got back a 2025 6th

[GunnerBill]

Douglas won't be back and Benford will be extended (although that probably happens after the draft and FA once they know where they are cap wise).

[gonzo1105]

11 minutes ago, CNYfan said:

I think we traded our 3rd for Cooper?

 

We are also tentatively supposed to have a 4th and 5th round compensatory pick so we're most likely looking at 10 picks next year.

[juno999]

As we know, Beane likes to draft, develop, and re-sign his guys.  Cook, Benford, Bernard, and Shakir will be entering contract years.  I believe Beane will want to extend Benford, (especially if they lose Douglas to FA), and I'm leaning towards extending Shakir.  Allen looks for Shakir a lot and he can beat man coverage.  He's not a WR1 but he's important in this offense.  Rousseau will be a priority as well.  Cooper is the wild card.  If they re-sign him, they can really focus on DE, DT, and CB.

[dpberr]

 I don’t see the Bills committing to a long-term contract for *any* player over 29.

 

While I’m a big fan of Rasul Douglas—he’s an exceptional zone corner—the Von Miller deal and the inevitable decline many players experience after that age suggest those resources would be better allocated elsewhere.

[strive_for_five_guy]

52 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

Douglas won't be back and Benford will be extended (although that probably happens after the draft and FA once they know where they are cap wise).

I agree we throw money at Benford before Douglas.  Money at Shakir before Cooper too.  And Bernard going to need an extension at some point too.

[DrMaxPower]

I'd be surprised to see them hit safety high. Maybe corner, though I'm personally comfortable with drafting later and developing. We have options for 2025 on the roster already.

 

It sounds like the strength of this draft is front 7. Supposedly a weaker WR class than the last few years.

 

I fully expect to see DT and DE in the 1st 2 rounds. I would have said WR with the other 2nd but will depend who's available. I could see corner if they don't like their options.

 

Overall, they're in really good shape. They could roll out a solid team in 2025 with no draft or FA at all.

[BearNorth]

There was a school of thought when we traded for Douglas that he had a couple of years left as a cover corner, but could move to safety and extend his career.  He hasn't had a really big payday for a 29 yr old, so I think he will take the highest offer.  he does have a $4MM dead cap hit the Bills will have to eat.

[BillsFan130]

Douglas for 2 years at 8 mil would be a steal IMO.

 

I get his age, but 4 million average salary for a good corner seems very low

[Aussie Joe]

I could see them making an offer to Douglas for what would be in reality one year of guaranteed money only … this won’t be enough to keep him…he will likely get two years from someone else ..

[NewEra]

I think:  Rousseau gets more than 20M Aav, Douglas gets more than that elsewhere ( but I really want him back),  benford will resigned,  cooper I’m hopeful that this turns out to be a match made in heaven and he accepts a deal like that, I don’t know what Vons hit will be but I could see him signing a new contract and finding a way to be here.  I want him back.  He can still play and plays big on big downs.  

55 minutes ago, BillsFan130 said:

Douglas for 2 years at 8 mil would be a steal IMO.

 

I get his age, but 4 million average salary for a good corner seems very low

Way low.  Douglas is a baller.  Dane Jackson signed 2-8.5

[appoo]

What're we thinking on Douglas? Bills have plenty of cap space to get him if they want him

[appoo]

One thing that continues to intrigue me about the Josh Allen era Bills' roster is how few first round picks they play, yet they do have a lot of 2nd/3rd round guys

 

QB - Josh Allen - 1st round

RB - James Cook - 2nd round

WR - Amari Cooper - 1st round (traded at age 30)

WR - Shakir - 5th round

WR - Keon Coleman - 2nd round

TE - Dalton Kincaid - 1st round

LT - Dion Dawkins - 2nd round

LG - Davif Edwards - 5th round

C - Connor McGovern - 3rd Round

RG - Torrance - 2nd round

RT - Brown - 3rd round

 

DE - Rousseau - 1st round

DE - AJE - 2nd round

DT - Ed Oliver - 1st Round

DT - DJ - 4th round

LB - Bernard - 3rd round

LB - Dorian Williams - 3rd Round

CB - Benford - 6th round

CB - Rasul Douglas - 3rd Round

NCB - Johnson - 4th Round

SAF - Damar Hamlin - 6th Round

SAF - Rapp - 2nd Round

 

Not saying it's good or bad or even normal/abnormal, but the among the starters there's 5 first round picks, one of them traded for at age 30. Also a ton of home grown talent

[LABILLBACKER]

3 hours ago, dpberr said:

 I don’t see the Bills committing to a long-term contract for *any* player over 29.

 

While I’m a big fan of Rasul Douglas—he’s an exceptional zone corner—the Von Miller deal and the inevitable decline many players experience after that age suggest those resources would be better allocated elsewhere.

I would happily sign Cooper to a 2 year deal but nothing beyond that.  I'm sure he'll want at least 3 years. Emphasis has to go to Groot, Shakir, Benford & Bernard.  And yes I'm still drafting a speed wr in April. Douglas is as good as gone.  God knows what they're going to do with Elam?