Okay, so, I got really curious about Von Miller’s contract situation with the Buffalo Bills. I mean, the guy’s a legend, right? So, I dove in to figure out what’s up with his deal.
First thing I did was, I started digging around for details. I found out that he initially signed a huge six-year, $120 million contract with the Bills. That’s a ton of money! I noticed he got a fat signing bonus of $18.52 million. That bonus covered some of his base salaries for 2022, 2023, and part of 2024. And get this, his base salaries for 2022 and 2023 were pretty low, like $1.12 million and $1.3 million, respectively. It’s like they backloaded the deal.
Then, I saw this report from ESPN’s Field Yates that Miller took a pay cut for 2024. He went from making $17.5 million to $8.885 million. That’s a big drop! I started wondering why he’d agree to that.
So I kept researching, and this is where things got even more interesting. It looks like none of the remaining money on Miller’s contract is guaranteed. This means the Bills could basically cut him after this season and not owe him another penny. I thought, “Wow, that’s kind of harsh, isn’t it?” I checked, he has a $17.145 million base salary in 2025, plus some workout bonuses and per-game bonuses. But again, none of that is guaranteed.
- Checked initial contract details: Six-year, $120 million deal.
- Noted the signing bonus: $18.52 million.
- Discovered the pay cut for 2024: From $17.5 million to $8.885 million.
- Realized remaining money isn’t guaranteed.
- Explored the implications of releasing him: $32.5 million dead-cap hit.
I also learned about this thing called a “dead-cap hit.” It’s basically the money that would still count against the Bills’ salary cap even if they got rid of Miller. I saw that his dead-cap hit would be a whopping $32.5 million if they released him before his new guaranteed money started. It seemed like a pretty complicated situation.
My Realization
Then I saw some fans talking about how Miller didn’t really perform up to expectations in 2023. I mean, he only had a few tackles. It makes you wonder if the pay cut was because of his performance. Or maybe there are other factors we don’t know about. Honestly, it seems a little unfair to me.
So, I’m still trying to make sense of it all. It’s not as simple as it seemed at first. This whole thing made me realize just how complex these NFL contracts can be, I mean, it is really complex, and hard to understand all of these.
Anyway, I’ll keep digging and see what else I can find out. I mean, this is a pretty big deal in the NFL world, so I’m sure there’s more to the story.
Alright, that’s it for now. I just wanted to share my little investigation with you guys. Maybe you have some insights too? Let me know what you think!
