Back in 2020, fresh off a Super Bowl victory, the Kansas City Chiefs had a bold move in reserve. They inked Patrick Mahomes to a staggering 10-year, $450 million contract extension. But this wasn’t just about locking in their star quarterback for the long haul. It was a carefully crafted move by GM Brett Veach to keep the team financially agile and competitive. Instead of loading up all the money in the first few years, they spread their salary and bonuses out over a whole decade. That meant the team doesn’t have to take a huge cap hit in any single season. On top of that, they could sign new talent that would probably make their Super Bowl-winning roster.

Thanks to this cap management, the Chiefs were able to maintain a competitive roster around Mahomes. They re-signed stars like Chris Jones and Travis Kelce, extended deals for key offensive linemen like Joe Thuney and Creed Humphrey, and brought in impact players such as JuJu Smith-Schuster, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and later, Charles Omenihu and Jawaan Taylor. The contract’s structure enabled the front office to continually reload talent while staying under the cap, helping the Chiefs remain perennial Super Bowl contenders. It turns out Bills’ GM Brandon Beane had a similar plan for Josh Allen.

Ever since Brandon Beane took over as the Bills’ GM, the team’s draft picks have kept getting better. During his eight-year tenure, he has continued to improve the roster whenever he has had the chance. His boldest move came in 2018 when he traded up to draft quarterback Josh Allen, a high-upside prospect who has since become the face of the franchise. That same year, Beane doubled down on defense by selecting linebacker Tremaine Edmunds. In the following drafts, Beanne’s been doing cap gymnastics for years now, pulling every lever possible to keep Buffalo in the fight. But here’s the thing: building a Super Bowl roster takes more than just draft picks and lucky breaks.

In March, Josh Allen signed a new six-year deal worth $330 million with $250 million guaranteed. This happened while Allen was in the middle of his previous contract with the Bills, which was a six-year, $258 million deal signed in 2021. Now, two months after the new deal, GM Brandon Beane opened up in a conversation with Rick Eisen on Wednesday about Buffalo initially offering Allen a lengthier contract four years ago, just like how Mahomes signed one. “Going into 21 season, we gave him, you know, Mahomes had done like a 10-year deal. He and his agents were not really up for that length of a deal.

But I would say at that time we did a six-year extension with him and we said ‘Listen if it if things get out of whack and you’re playing to the level we know you can play at, we will look at it and we’ll we’ll make an adjustment for you.” 

Unlike Mahomes’ 10-year contract that gave the Chiefs multiple windows to restructure bonuses and spread out cap hits, Allen’s shorter-term deal concentrated more guaranteed money into a tighter timeline. This limited Buffalo’s ability to maneuver around the cap in the same way Kansas City could, especially as Allen’s cap hit escalated more quickly than Mahomes’ did in the early years of the deal.

Still, with this new deal with Allen, the Bills were able to spend more in free agency. They have added the likes of wideout Joshua Palmer, offering him $36 million over three years. They have also added to the D-Line by allocating more than $25 million this year for Joey Bosa, Michael Hoecht, and Larry Ogunjobi. The Bills also signed another WR, Laviska Shenault Jr., in March.

Josh Allen viewed his new deal as a chance to create cap space

This year, Allen brought home the MVP for the first time. So, even though a contract extension wasn’t originally on the table, Pegula still rewarded him with one. 

Josh Allen viewed his new deal as an opportunity to help create some cap space for the team in the short term. In an interview following the signing, he shared, “I understood the impact of getting an extension done, creating some cap space. I’ve had a big contract before, and it doesn’t really change how I live my life. But I know that, again, this opens up some space for cap and signing some free agents. I think we’ve been having a pretty good free-agent run so far.“

The Buffalo brass began extension talks as soon as the offseason kicked off. The QB’s new deal placed Josh Allen among the highest-paid quarterbacks in the league. He made sure that the restructuring gave the team some flexibility with their cap space.

“I wasn’t looking to absolutely kill them at every chance I could. And I told my agent that,” said this year’s MVP. “I was like, if it has any impact on the cap, let’s figure out a way to not do that. Both sides were willing to move and change different things. And it was a pretty calm-mannered negotiation, is what I can say from both sides.“

Allen made it clear that he wanted a deal that helped him secure his future while also giving the Bills a shot at building a strong roster.  In the end, both sides made it work, with Allen doing his part to keep the team’s future in mind while still locking in his financial security.