With Stefon Diggs extension out of the way, could Jordan Poyer be next for the Bills?
Brandon Beane's creative financing has the Buffalo Bills in better shape overall than they were before the start of the NFL's new league year. The general manager's flurry of moves bolstered their defensive front, added some intriguing offensive weapons and squelched all the white noise coming from speculation that wide receiver Stefon Diggs was going to be traded.
When he extended Diggs on Wednesday, it cleared $6.18 million in salary cap space, according to ESPN's Field Yates.
Added to the $3.8 million the Bills were estimated to have beforehand, it gave them nearly $10 million. While that should be plenty to get their draft picks and undrafted free agents signed, more space will need to be cleared to add a veteran cornerback to help with the loss of Levi Wallace to free agency and the potential unavailability early in the season of Tre'Davious White, who is recovering from a ruptured ACL suffered in November.
Plenty of options remain, so there's not necessarily a rush to take care of that business.
Then there's a potential new complication: Safety Jordan Poyer.
Coming off an All-Pro season, Poyer is entering the final year of his contract that pays him a base salary of $5.6 million and features a cap hit of $10.7 million, according to Over the Cap. And he just hired high-profile agent Drew Rosenhaus.
What it means is that he's looking to get paid sooner rather than later as well, and there's a clear argument that he deserves it, led by his wife, the outspoken and often politically incorrect Rachel Bush.
In a Wednesday Tweet that's since been deleted, Bush wrote: "Biting my tongue for a week or two more but that's itttt."
Bush is on point here. Her husband has been underpaid for years. And after watching Beane move heaven and earth to reward the likes of Diggs and Ryan Bates with new contracts and sign high-profile free agents Rodger Saffold and Von Miller, who is two years older than Poyer, it's not unreasonable to wonder if they plan to give him another contract.
Poyer will turn 31 this month, and an extension could clear as much as $4.5 million more in cap space — all the better with which to go after that veteran cornerback they need.
Poyer and Micah Hyde came to the Bills together in 2017 and eventually formed the most formidable safety tandem in the NFL.
Hyde's contract expires at the end of next season.
So there's some food for thought as Beane and the Bills ponder their next steps.
Nick Fierro is the publisher of Bills Central. Check out the latest Bills news at www.si.com/nfl/bills and follow Fierro on Twitter at @NickFierro. Email to Nicky300@aol.com.
