Today is one of the sneakiest days on the NFL offseason schedule: the void year deadline. For the Buffalo Bills, it means several contracts will officially trigger their automatic voids for 2026 and beyond. When that happens, any remaining prorated bonus money doesn’t disappear — it accelerates onto the 2026 salary cap.
Here’s where things stand:
• LB Matt Milano: $11 million dead cap • C Connor McGovern: $4.8 million dead cap • DT DaQuan Jones: $3.7 million dead cap • DE A.J. Epenesa: $2.8 million dead cap • DE Joey
Bosa: $7.2 million dead cap
Void years are a useful cap-management tool. They allow teams to spread signing bonus money over additional “void” years to lower the immediate cap hit. It’s a cost-effective solution for high contract values during the contract period. But if a player is not extended before the void date, the remaining prorated bonus accelerates into the current league year.
For Buffalo, this represents more than $29 million in dead-cap space hitting the 2026 books from these five contracts alone. Most significantly, that figure reprsents money allocated to players no longer under contract.
Now, acceleration doesn’t necessarily mean panic. President of football operations/general manager Brandon Beane has consistently used void years as part of his cap strategy, often pairing them with extensions or restructures. The question is whether any of these players return on new deals that effectively “offset” the accelerated hits. The money is always due eventually, it’s only a question of when.
Milano’s number is the headline. Bosa’s is significant. For “the cap is not real” crowd, the void-year bill has arrived.
