Tyler Bass' Kicking Future Certain After Bills Make Critical Financial Move

To be compliant by the start of the NFL’s new league year, the Buffalo Bills have begun to clear much-needed salary cap space.

The latest financial move made by the team involved kicker Tyler Bass, who agreed to a revised contract on Tuesday, according to Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap.

“Bills guarantee $1M in return for a $1.5M pay cut,” posted Fitzgerald to X. “Chance to earn back $1M via incentives.”

Bass was a release candidate at the outset of the offseason, as designating him as a pre-June 1 release would have created nearly $3 million in cap space and a post-June 1 cut would have created nearly $4M in space.

Spotrac's Michael Ginnitti released additional information regarding Bass's contract.

"K Tyler Bass signed a 2 year, $6.75 renegotiated contract with the Bills that includes $1M guaranteed, $2.45 cash in 2026, and cap hits of [$3.05M in 2026 and $5.57M in 2027]."

The new deal creates $1.92M in salary cap space.

He’s back

Tyler Bass agreed to take a pay cut on Tuesday, which points to him returning as the Bills' starting kicker in 2026. | David Reginek-USA TODAY Sports

The move indicates that Bass will indeed return as the team’s starting kicker in 2026. He missed the entirety of last season due to hip and groin injuries that were eventually revealed to be a sports hernia. The six-year pro has been with the Bills his entire career after the team drafted him in the sixth round of the 2020 NFL Draft.

Before missing the full ’26 campaign, Bass had missed just one game during his previous five years in the league. Across 83 regular-season appearances, Bass has recorded a field goal success rate of 84.5% while converting on 96.4% of his extra-point attempts.

This past season, his replacement, 41-year-old Matt Prater, made 90% of his field goal attempts and 93.9% of his extra points. Prater’s career field goal percentage is 83.8%, while Bass's is 84.5%.

Salary cap update

After Bass agreed to take a pay cut, the Bills are about $11.5 million over the salary cap. With the new league year set to begin on Wednesday at 4 p.m., additional moves must be made for the team to be able to sign recent additions DJ Moore, Dee Alford and others, while also making room to sign upcoming draft picks.

A few potential options to create additional cap space include restructuring Josh Allen’s contract, having Dawson Knox take a pay cut, converting Ed Oliver’s salary to a signing bonus and more. Brandon Beane will have his work cut out for him as the team pushes to get under the $301.2 million figure set by the league.

The most obvious of the aforementioned moves involves Knox, who is set to produce a cap hit of over $17M this season. For a second-string tight end, that’s far too much money. Expect the announcement of a pay cut, or perhaps his release in the coming hours.