Five players the Buffalo Bills have to make decisions on heading into the 2026 season

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — By the start of the new league year, the Buffalo Bills will need to be salary cap compliant. According to Spotrac.com, the Bills are currently over the projected 2026 salary cap by about $9 million, so they’re going to need to get creative.

Here are five players to keep an eye on as the Bills start making moves:

Dawson Knox

I think Knox will be on the Bills' roster next year. But I could see the Bills exploring their options with their longtime tight end. The first is a straight-up pay cut. Of course, the player would need to approve this, but if the Bills ask Knox to take a pay cut in order to stay in Buffalo for the final year of his contract, I could see him agreeing to it. Matt Milano did something similar last year.

The more likely option would be a contract extension for Knox, which could lower his salary cap hit next season and keep him in Buffalo for possibly the rest of his career. Knox has told me several times he wants to spend his entire career with the Bills, so both of these options would feel like they’re on the table.

Curtis Samuel

Unlike Knox, I don’t think Samuel will be back next season. If the Bills cut Samuel, they’ll save about $6 million this season. In 2025, Samuel had just seven catches for 81 yards and one touchdown. Injuries and inconsistent play have plagued Samuel’s two years in Buffalo. This contract was a swing and a miss from the Bills two years ago when they signed Samuel to a three-year deal in free agency.

Ty Johnson

Johnson is a very valuable player, and I’m sure the Bills would love to keep him around. But according to Spotrac, the Bills would save about $2.5 million if they move on from their veteran running back. With Ray Davis on a cost-controlled deal, they may believe it’s time to make Davis their “full-time” third-down back and pair him with James Cook. The Bills are a better team with Ty Johnson on it, but they will need to make some difficult decisions, and I think Johnson will be a name the front office discusses.

Tyler Bass

Bass didn’t play a regular-season game for the Bills in 2025. Their kicker missed the entire season with lingering injuries, which ended up requiring surgery.

“I would expect Tyler Bass to be our kicker in ‘26,” Bills President of Football and General Manager Brandon Beane told Matt Parrino two weeks ago.

But you have to wonder if Beane and his staff will reconsider based on the potential cap savings. The Bills could save nearly $3 million if they move on from Bass. I’m going to take Beane’s comments at face value and believe the Bills will bring their kicker back next season, but if there’s a player they love and they need some extra spending money, Bass could be a player in their back pocket in case of emergency.

Taron Johnson

Johnson may be the most difficult player to predict heading into the 2026 season. He’s one of the Bills highest paid players, and with Jim Leonhard taking over as their defensive coordinator, the former All-Pro nickel cornerback may be an odd fit with the Bills “new” scheme.

“We know he's a great player, extremely productive, great leader, so finding out the perfect role for a player like that is very high on our priority list,right?” Leonhard said. “What it exactly is going to look like is yet to be determined a little bit, butI love the player. I love the personality. I had a great conversation with him. He's excited for the change, not knowing what it is, right? And he knows that we're going to communicate with him and find out what's right because he's been an extremely productive player in the NFL.”

The Bills won’t save very much money by releasing Johnson unless they designate his release as a post-June 1st cut, which is what the team did with Tre’Davious White two years ago. This would allow the Bills to spread the dead-cap hit from Johnson over two seasons, instead of entirely this year. But that would also mean the Bills can’t spend that money until June.