Bills signing edge Leonard Floyd part of GM Brandon Beane’s bigger plan

Henry McKenna

AFC East Reporter

At a few points this offseason, Brandon Beane broadcast his plans for the Buffalo Bills. And, for the most part, he has stuck with them. The Buffalo general manager opened the offseason by discussing the team’s challenging salary-cap situation. That has shed light on just about every move the Bills have made since they lost to the Cincinnati Bengals in January.

Beane said didn’t anticipate a big splash like the Von Miller deal. And that’s likely why the Bills — who would certainly benefit from another receiver — aren’t currently contenders for free-agent DeAndre Hopkins. The Chiefs are better equipped to pay him what he wants.

Buffalo isn’t just eyeing a win in 2023. The Bills want to contend in 2024 and 2025 — and 2029.

“We want to be competitive every single year,” Beane said in March. “Some years you’re just not going to be able to go add a big-ticket item. I know that’s sexy to go do that. And listen, we want as many talented players as we can get, but we’ve got to be fiscally responsible. If not, it will pile up.”

It’s about not turning into the Los Angeles Rams or the New Orleans Saints.

Sure, the Bills would be happy to end up with a Super Bowl ring, just like the Rams did two years ago. But we’ve seen other teams try to copy L.A. and, in turn, go salary-cap bankrupt in their failed pursuits of a Super Bowl. The Saints are the perfect example. They’re still rebuilding from their final push with Drew Brees.

Right now, the Bills have just $1 million in cap space. They have been tight against the cap for the majority of the offseason, balancing restructures of existing contracts (to create cap space) while adding new players (which eats cap space). Their recent additions have included edge Leonard Floyd and safety Taylor Rapp. Both of them will likely serve as situational starters.

And I’ll circle back to them. But I want to make sure everyone is seeing the bigger picture.

Buffalo hasn’t gone after Hopkins and didn’t retain linebacker Tremaine Edmunds because it is already $13.3 million over the cap for 2024. That’s never a good place to start. Using Josh Allen‘s contract, the Bills can work toward getting under the cap by converting some of the QB’s $23.5 million in salary into signing bonus. Buffalo can do the same thing with Stefon Diggs ($18.5 million in salary in 2024) and Von Miller ($17.1 million in salary in 2024).

If the Bills had spent this offseason spending big, they would have put themselves in danger of doing irreparable harm to their salary cap situation in 2024. They might head into what Beane has called “lean years.” It’s a nice way of saying he wants to keep the Bills from being one of the worst teams in the NFL.

You don’t want to go salary-cap bankrupt. You also don’t want to need the draft to rebuild.

It’s about not turning into the Bengals, who had many lean years before becoming a top competitor in the AFC.

“I don’t want to suck bad enough to have to get Ja’Marr Chase,” Beane said in January. “He’s a heck of a talent, I’d love to have him, but you got to go through some lean years to do that. They were able to get [Joe] Burrow No. 1 and Chase [No. 5], and those guys are on their rookie deals.”

Jets, Chargers, Bills among Jason McIntyre’s teams under pressure

The Bills are going to have to make tough decisions annually about who they decide to keep and who they decide to bounce. The Chiefs, for example, decided it was best to part ways with the best receiver in the NFL: Tyreek Hill. K.C. traded Hill last year rather than sign him to a huge extension because receiver is one position Patrick Mahomes can actively elevate. And in turn, the Chiefs have used Hill’s salary to bolster the rest of the roster. In New England, Bill Belichick also did this when building around Tom Brady.

You can see the same thing happening in Buffalo. The latest offseason addition, Floyd, is a clear effort to make the team’s pass defense more dangerous (and, perhaps, provide insurance against a prolonged recovery for Von Miller from his ACL injury).

Rapp is a sneaky good addition to a defense that needs more linebackers. Rapp, a safety, can play in the box and provide run support. He’s not a linebacker, but he will likely take a linebacker off the field on third down.

And there’s one more under-the-radar signing that’s not getting enough love: Damien Harris. He and Latavius Murray are likely going to fight over a surprisingly large role as the team’s inside-rusher and goal-line back. That should alleviate an enormous amount of contact from QB Allen’s in-season diet. He is an amazing runner — but that doesn’t mean he should carry the ball as much as he has these past few years.

Rapp, Floyd and Harris are parts of a fairly substantial class of mid-tier free agent signings.

Guard Connor McGovern
Tackle Brandon Shell
DT Poona Ford
WR Trent Sherfield
WR Deonte Harty
RB Latavius Murray
QB Kyle Allen

Just because the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins made big offseason moves, it doesn’t mean they’re suddenly going to upend the Bills’ momentum (although I do think the Aaron Rodgers acquisition does change the complexion of the AFC East). The Bills are among the AFC’s best. They are making micro-adjustments to their already-excellent roster while the Jets have to make big acquisitions to jump into contention. New York is working to insert itself into the conversation with Buffalo, Cincinnati and Kansas City.

But that doesn’t mean Buffalo has fallen away from contention. The Bills are a good team and, under Beane’s oversight, their personnel has remained top-tier. He tried to warn fans that it would be a disappointing offseason. And that’s because he wants to avoid a devastating one down the line when the Bills are picking in the top 10 after a brutal regular season.

Prior to joining FOX Sports as the AFC East reporter, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @McKennAnalysis.

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