Bills release fan favorite to avoid payday
The Buffalo Bills released a fan favorite to avoid paying his roster bonus
The Buffalo Bills made a tough roster decision on Friday.
With a tight salary cap, the Bills have had to make several moves this offseason to create some breathing room.
Buffalo restructured Josh Allen's and Von Miller's contracts earlier this week, creating a significant amount of cap space.
On Friday, the Bills created some more salary cap space.
Buffalo is reportedly releasing wide receiver Isaiah McKenzie. The move will save the Bills $2.2 million in cap space.
At first, the timing of this move felt a bit odd. McKenzie's dead cap hit is only $300,000. The Bills could've kept McKenzie through minicamps — in case of injury — and released him down the line if necessary. Buffalo still would've saved $2.2 million in cap space in 2023 even if they waited until later this summer to release McKenzie.
The reason this move happened on Friday is because McKenzie was due a $250,000 roster bonus this weekend. That's not a large amount of cash for an NFL franchise, but if they didn't think McKenzie is going to be on the roster this fall, it doesn't make much sense to give him a quarter of a million dollars for a month or two of work.
McKenzie had the best year of his career in 2022, catching 42 passes for 423 yards and four touchdowns.
