Jordan Poyer wants a new contract. He hired a new agent this offseason, and Drew Rosenhaus took that request to the Buffalo Bills and the media. The Bills have the cap space to make it happen and allow Poyer to retire as a member of the Bills.

After being named first-team All-Pro in 2021, the contract won’t come cheap and the age of Poyer (he turns 31 this month) and his running mate Micah Hyde, who signed a two-year contract. years, further complicate the problem. last offseason. Hyde’s deal was equal to Poyer’s when he signed it a year ago, but now with an All-Pro team on his resume, Poyer is in line for a raise, leaving Hyde behind.

However, I don’t foresee any of the complications that will turn things sour, and it looks like they might find a solution before training camp. The schedule could be as early as this week, when Bills players report for offseason practices.

Let’s dive into comparable contracts. I’m not looking at any player in their twenties for their first big contract. Let’s just look at guys over 30.

Micah Hyde
Buffalo Bills (2021)
Two years, $19.25 million

Hyde’s contract from a year ago is below the floor for Poyer, who signed a two-year, $19.5 million contract two offseasons ago. He did as much before he was an All-Pro. He’s going to get a raise and he deserved it.

Harrison Smith
Minnesota Vikings (2021)
Four years, $64 million

The new money on the deal averaged $16 million per season, which would be a huge leap forward for Poyer. In reality, cash payments are deferred. He earned $14 million in the first year of the deal, $11.5 million in the second, and will earn $15 million in 2023 if it comes to that. From 2023 to 2025, it’s basically team options for $15 million, $15 million, and $18 million with no guarantees beyond that season. It also has big built-in per-match bonuses. So, while the numbers seem big, it’s not exactly a certainty that he will see more than a year of the new contract.

Whenre Diggs
Seattle Seahawks (2022)
Three years, $39 million

Only the first year’s salary is fully guaranteed, making this another one of those “one year and we’ll see” deals. However, it is very likely that he sees the end of it. The average payout is actually $14 million, $14 million, then $11 million.

Projection of the contract

The biggest question for me isn’t the average deal value, it’s how long it’s going to last. Bills general manager Brandon Beane has only signed one deal in the last few years that I can specifically point to and say, “There’s no way the guy will see the deal end. ” Aside from Von Miller, the other big deals he’s given are mostly short-term two to four years and no inflated numbers at the end.

In practice, the bills granted Hyde and Poyer two-year extensions. Poyer signed for four years in 2017, then two more years in 2020. Hyde signed for five years in 2017 and added two more years in 2021. The two free agent contracts we looked at were longer, and Poyer might want a longer contract. here as he has stated his intentions are to retire with the Bills. With a new agent, it’s also a joker.

With Poyer turning 31 this month, he still has a year left on his contract, and for the reasons I just stated, I’m sticking to two years in my projection to make three years in total. I added a few blank years to the back to spread the cap.

Because I kept the contract short, I’m going to have to increase the severance. Smith’s overall compensation numbers complicate the deal with extra dollars at the end, much like Tyreek Hill did with the receiver market. Beane was able to convince Diggs to accept the practical dollar figures, not the inflated numbers. Despite the $16 million per season in fresh money, over the whole five years it’s less than $15 million, and if you take out the last year, it’s just north of $14 million per season. That’s going to put the average annual value between $14 and $15 million for me. With its All-Pro wink, I’m going to choose the high end.

Two years, $30 million

Poyer already received a $500,000 bonus in March at the start of the league year and he was expected to earn $5.6 million in base salary plus up to $400,000 in active bonuses per game. He also has a training bonus of $200,000. All this must be taken into account. I chose to spread the cap over five full seasons.

In the end, we have $37 million to tally over the three seasons.

The $10 million signing bonus spreads $8 million of his 2022 cap over five seasons. The other guaranteed money is $2 million in 2022 salary plus a roster bonus in 2023. If Beane wanted to, they could turn that into an option bonus and still spread caps, but I’d rather not do it for 32 years. -Old Poyer.

Poyer’s current cap reached in 2022 is just under $10.8 million. This contract would be less than the number of about 2 million dollars.

Here are examples of annual breakdowns:

2022
Former signing bonus: $1 million
Former restructuring: $2.6 million
Old Squad Bonus: $500,000 (already paid)
New signing bonus: $2 million
Training Bonus: $200,000
Roster bonus per game: $23,529 per game ($376,464 LTBE)
Base salary: $2 million (fully guaranteed)

Cap reached: $8.676 million
Cash: $13.1 million

2023
Signing bonus: $2 million
List bonus: $5 million (fully guaranteed)
Training Bonus: $200,000
Roster bonus per game: $510,000 ($30,000 per game)
Base salary: $5.79 million

Ceiling reached: $13.5 million
Cash: $11.5 million

2024
Signing bonus: $2 million
List bonus: $1 million
Training Bonus: $200,000
Roster bonus per game: $510,000 ($30,000 per game)
Base salary: $11.19 million

Ceiling reached: $14.9 million
Cash: $12.9 million

2025 (null year)

Signing bonus: $2 million
Dead cap if not re-signed: $4 million

2026 (null year)

Signing bonus: $2 million
Dead cap if not re-signed: $2 million