The Buffalo Bills entered the 2024 NFL off-season with one of the worst financial situations in the league, with a heavy focus on pass rusher Von Miller in that respect. But the team announced that they had restructured the soon-to-be 35-year-old’s contract on Wednesday, which will save them nearly $9 million for the upcoming season.
Bills Restructure Von Miller’s Contract For 2024
Full details on the Von Miller reworked contract with the #Bills: He lowered the $17.145M base to $1.5M plus a $7M signing bonus for a total of $8.5M base. There are also reachable incentives to get him back up to $17.145M and higher incentives up to around $20M total.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 6, 2024
Miller has a chance to make a good portion of that money back, though. But in order to do so, he’ll have to have a vast turnaround from the statistical performance that made his one of the worst contracts in the NFL last year.
Considered one of the elite pass rushers of the past decade, Miller signed a 6-year, $120 million deal with Buffalo ahead of the 2022 season, and it was thought that he would be one of the final missing pieces to get the team over the championship hump. He was productive in his initial season with the Bills, racking up 8 sacks in 11 games to go along with 2 forced fumbles. But a torn ACL cut his campaign short, and it was unclear whether he would be ready for the start of 2023, and questions about his long-term future lingered as well.
Miller played in 12 games during the most recent regular season. He played in 258 defensive snaps (32% of the team total), and racked up a total of 3 tackles, and failed to sack the quarterback a single time.
Miller Will Earn Incentives On Per-Sack Basis
The Bills and pass rusher Von Miller agreed to a renegotiated contract, per source.
The deal has a base value of $8.855M in 2024, with the chance to make up to $20M with incentives (up from $17.5M under the old terms).
The move saves Buffalo $8.645M in 2024 salary cap space.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) March 6, 2024
The new contract restructure will look to fix those problems. Miller’s cap hit will fall from $17.5 million to $8.8 million for the coming year, but he has a chance to make up that money if he is able to reverse his recent fortunes. When Miller gets his first two sacks of the season, he will earn $1 million. If he gets to 6, he’ll earn $4 million, and will take home $6 million should he rack up 8.
If Miller has his first double-digit sack season since 2018, he’ll make $8.6 million on top of the base of $8.8, putting him roughly at what his total was before the restructure.
Miller’s contract wasn’t the only one that the Bills have dealt with in recent days. Former All-Pro corner back Tre’Davious White was sent off, as was safety Jordan Poyer and center Mitch Morse. Buffalo will have cleared about $36 million in cap since the start of the off-season when White’s release is made official past the June 1st designation.