The Buffalo Bills needed to add some cap space before the season started
The Buffalo Bills were tight up against the salary cap entering Week 1, so they made two moves on Tuesday to free up some 2024 cap space. There isn’t an imminent signing, but it will allow them some wiggle room for injury replacements as the season goes on.
Buffalo converted $2.04 million of DaQuan Jones’ base salary into a signing bonus, moving $1.632 million of cap commitments into the future. Jones signed his deal in March and the Bills chose not to make the move at that point in time, so this is a reaction to what happened since the opening of free agency with the roster.
Jones will get the same amount of money, but at a different time. His $3.25 million salary was lowered to the league minimum and the Bills added three void years to get the maximum amount of space. Divide that $2.04 million by five and you get $408,000 spread out in each of the next five cap years. If he’s not on the team by release, trade, or retirement, the remaining years will accelerate to the current year.
The Bills also converted $1.435 million of A.J. Epenesa’s base salary into a signing bonus, pushing out $1.148 million into the future via the same methodology.
Buffalo now has roughly $3.775 million in cap space available for injury replacements. We could also see some more of these relatively minor moves in order to clear a little more space.
Here are the updated contract figures for both players:
DaQuan Jones
2024
Restructure from old contract: $1,833,334
Prorated signing bonus: $1.25 million
2024 Restructure: $408,000
Base salary: $1.21 million (fully guaranteed)
Yearly cash: $8.25 million
Cap hit: $4.7 million
2025
Prorated signing bonus: $1.25 million
2024 Restructure: $408,000
Base salary: $7.75 million ($2.25 million fully guaranteed)
Yearly cash: $7.75 million
Cap hit: $9.41 million
Dead cap if cut: $7.6 million
Cap savings if cut: $1.81 million (Up to $4.06 million if he signs elsewhere)
2026 VOID YEAR
Prorated signing bonus: $1.25 million
2024 Restructure: $408,000
Dead cap if not re-signed: $3.724 million
2027 VOID YEAR
Prorated signing bonus: $1.25 million
2024 Restructure: $408,000
Dead cap if not re-signed: $1.66 million (Accelerated to 2026 if not on the roster in 2026)
2028 VOID YEAR
2024 Restructure: $408,000
Dead cap if not re-signed: $408,000 (Accelerated to 2026 if not on the roster in 2026)
A.J. Epenesa
2024
Prorated signing bonus: $1 million
Workout bonus: $100,000
2024 restructure: $287,000
Base salary: $1.125 million
Per-game roster bonus: $20,000 per game up to $340,000 ($300k LTBE)
Cap hit: $2.812 million
Total cash: $7 million
2025
Prorated signing bonus: $1 million
Workout bonus: $100,000
2024 restructure: $287,000
Base salary: $4.56 million
Per-game roster bonus: $20,000 per game up to $340,000
Cap hit: $6.3 million
Total cash: $5 million
Dead cap if cut: $4.15 million (before the league year starts)
Cap savings if cut: $3.1 million (before the league year starts)
2026
Prorated signing bonus: $1 million
2024 restructure: $287,000
Cap hit if not re-signed: $2.86 million
2027
Prorated signing bonus: $1 million
2024 restructure: $287,000
Cap hit if not re-signed: $1.287 million (moved ahead to 2026 if not re-signed)
2028
2024 restructure: $287,000
Cap hit if not re-signed: $287,000 million (moved ahead to 2026 if not re-signed)