The Buffalo Bills are reportedly trading a 2026 second-round pick to the Chicago Bears to acquire wide receiver DJ Moore. In order to make this trade happen the Bills must free up significant salary cap space.
The Bills were already projected to sit roughly $7 million over the cap before the move. Moore’s 2026 cap charge of approximately $24.5 million would push that deficit to roughly $31.5 million, meaning Buffalo must create a massive amount of room before the league deadline of 4 p.m. EDT on Wednesday,
March 11.
Once the trade officially processes at the start of the new league year, the most logical next step is a restructure of Moore’s contract. If Buffalo fully restructures Moore’s deal by converting nearly all of his $23.485 million base salary into signing bonus money while leaving only the veteran minimum salary of $1.215 million in place, the immediate cap result becomes dramatically more manageable.
DJ Moore’s cap hit under hypothetical restructure:
• Base salary remains: $1.215 million
• Converted to signing bonus: $22.27 million (allocated over 4 years)
• Estimated new 2026 cap hit: about $6.78 million
• Per-game roster bonus: $765,000
• Total adjusted 2026 cap hit: about $7.5 million
That move would free approximately $17 million in 2026 cap space, spreading the bonus proration into future seasons and giving Buffalo breathing room to complete the rest of its offseason roster work. Beane could potentially make more room by adding void years instead of a simple restructure.
The Bills do need to be cap compliant with the top 51 salaries heading into the new league year and find the cap space for Moore, but their game plan will be to immediately restructure Moore’s contract into a cap friendly deal, pushing additional cap charges into future years.
