One Fan(n)’s Opinion by @rdotdeuce – How to Fit Gilmore and Taylor into the Budget going forward

Sully went on a spiel about how the Bills can’t possibly re-sign both Gilmore and Taylor without killing their cap. I disagree. And instead of throwing insults or being a baby about it – I’ll use numbers to prove my point, which you’ll see below.

Currently, the Bills sit with around 40 million dollars in cap space for 2017, before you think of rolling over the 14 million or so they have in 2016. For giggles, I’m going to bounce off of Spotrac’s market values for Gilmore and Taylor just to give an idea of where you’d be if they both were re-signed.

Let’s start with Stephon. On Spotrac, he’s positioned to get a 6 year, 81 million dollar contract. Because of the pre-existing contract and tolling charges, etc you’ll see that instead of 3.6 million per year, it bumps up to 4.816 – but even that’s manageable. You keep your top flight corner, you have cap flexibility and you continue to give your head coach no excuses talent-wise on defense. Win-win-win.

Year 1 (which would be this year) Gilmore’s contract is actually lower than it is with his 5th year tag, saving the team an additional 2 million dollars (16 million in cap space). Keep that in mind with Tyrod’s deal, as you’ll see in a second. This contract would put Stephon in the top 5 of cornerback salaries, but because of the money up-front, the Bills could get out of it in 3 years and have no harm.

Now, for Tyrod. Spotrac has him at 4 years, 77 million dollars, but because he has 2016 as his final pre-void year I made it a 5 year, 80 million dollar deal overall. Because of the lower nature of his cap hit in 2016, it makes sense to have a bit of a money dump this year, to ensure that you can clear space in years going forward for other players as needed without the “oh my God, my QB is killing the cap” excuse.

So I dumped 31 million in signing bonus (similar to the Wilson deal) with a 5 million salary in year one, eating into some of that 16 cap and leaving a healthy bit for 2017. If Tyrod plays as well as he did in 2015, you’re getting your QB for the next 5 years and time to develop that “legendary” 10 year QB. But remember, much like Glenn – both Taylor and Gilmore are starting at their respective positions’ high point salary wise – with Taylor arguably more in the mid high range.

After all of the #PegulaBux are dropped on these two, you’re still looking at about 6.7 million in cap space in 2016 and 11.16 million in cap space for 2017. With the lack of a 5th year option being exercised for Manuel, you can afford to get a cheaper FA QB to be number 2 if Cardale isn’t ready. Finally, on the 5th year of the deal you see the roster bonus, which is an effective way to cut bait (if they haven’t already) on TT if things haven’t worked out.

You’ll also have the option to cut any combination of Kyle Williams (6.8 million), Eric Wood (4.5 million), Corey Graham (3.7 million) or Dan Carpenter (2.4 million) to collect additional funds should an FA warrant them.

So – don’t worry about the cap. They can fit people in if they need it – especially if their QB, Left Tackle and #1 Corner are in the fold.