Bills Salary Cap Issues Are More Josh Palmer Than Josh Allen

The Buffalo Bills need to fill a few holes on their roster, but their salary cap situation doesn't make things easy. As they enter the offseason, Over The Cap has them estimated at nearly $7.5 million over the limit.

It has been well documented that they need help at wide receiver as well as defensive end. What gets glossed over, however, is their needs in the secondary as well as the interior of the offensive line where David Edwards and Connor McGovern are both free agents.

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General manager Brandon Beane has been open about the challenges the team faces with the salary cap, and as many GMs will do, he points to the biggest contract as the concern. Beane has stated that when you pay Josh Allen as much as he deserves, it makes things difficult. WHAM's Mike Catalana doesn't agree with that, saying the Bills' problems have more to do with players such as Josh Palmer than they do with Josh Allen.

Buffalo Bills wide receiver Josh Palmer runs for several yards after catching a pass against the New Orleans Saints. | Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

"The Bills will talk about it, and Brandon Beane will say it a lot of times, that, well, we got our quarterback, and you got to pay your quarterback, and that makes it tough. The Bills' issues with the salary cap are more Josh Palmer than they are Josh Allen," Catalana said.

"You sign players. Josh Palmer was hurt. Maybe he wasn't as effective. But when you sign players in positions like that and pay them a substantial amount of money and do not get the return, that's what hurts your cap. Not as much of paying your phenomenal quarterback that you can keep kicking it down the road every year, which is what they have done. It's the guys who let you down who make too much money. Curtis Samuel. It's a lot of the wide receivers. That has been the problem. D-line, it's like Joey Bosa not coming through for you in the playoff games. Like all of those type of things hurt you more than paying your superstar quarterback who keeps you in every game."

The Bills issues with the salary cap are more Josh PALMER than Josh ALLEN#BillsMafia @BuffaloPlus pic.twitter.com/Wt69ksbIXr
— Mike Catalana (@MikeCatalana) February 10, 2026

Bills can still make any move they need to this offseason

Brandon Beane, general manager of the Buffalo Bills, heads off the field at the end of practice of training camp. | Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Catalana alluded to one of the ways Buffalo can free up cap space, which is to kick Allen's salary down the road. Allen is one of three players who can restructure his deal to open up more than $10 million of space.

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There are plenty of other ways to free up cap space as well, meaning the Bills will be able to afford whatever moves they want to make this offseason. What they can't afford, however, is to pay substantial money to players like Palmer and Joey Bosa without getting the proper return.