The Bills makeover continues. Just one day after agreeing to a trade with the Eagles for running back LeSean McCoy they are back in the trade market, this time acquiring quarterback Matt Cassel from the Minnesota Vikings.
Cassel will carry a $4.75 million cap charge for the Bills this season. He is due a $500,000 roster bonus on March 17 and can earn up to $1.25 million in incentives. Unlike what I speculated about McCoy, I do not believe the Bills would even consider extending Cassel.
Cassel is kind of an odd choice for the Bills, but I guess it indicates that they did not see a better option in free agency where they would have likely taken a run at either Mark Sanchez or Matt Moore. The last time Cassel started more than 9 games in a season was 2010, so it is hard to picture Cassel lasting in a starting role for the Bills either. The Bills had looked at Josh McCown, but he selected the Browns, who offered a three year contract.
Given the trade for McCoy and money the team will likely need to spend on the offensive line the Bills may have decided that a lower cost, one year contract was better than having to get into a two or three year one with those players mentioned above.
Minnesota, who I believe is a darkhorse team to be surprisingly active in free agency, creates an additional $4.75M in space with the trade. They have a lot more money they can free up by working with the deals of Chad Greenway, Greg Jennings, and Adrian Peterson.
Jason is the founder of OTC and has been studying NFL contracts and the salary cap for over 15 years. Jason has co-authored two books about the NFL, Crunching Numbers and the Drafting Stage, which are widely circulated in the industry and hosts the OTC Podcast. Jason’s work has been featured in various publications including the Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, NFL Network and more. OTC is widely considered the leading authority on contract matters in the NFL.