This season, the Bills are one of the favorites to win the Super Bowl. Instead, they were eliminated in the divisional round with a 27-10 home loss to the Bengals.
Two days after the loss, general manager Brandon Beane was asked in a media conference if he thought there was anything in the way Cincinnati had built its roster that he thought Buffalo could emulate. His answer might upset some in Bengal Point.
“They’ve got a good team. They’re on the edge of a rookie quarterback contract right now. They’ve had some bad years, and I don’t want to be too bad without getting a lot involved in their construction. Not getting Ja’Marr Chase,” Beane said. “He’s got a lot of talent and I’d love to have him. But you have to go through some bad years to do that.
Beane expanded on this point by acknowledging the benefits of having stars like Chase and Joe Burrow on affordable contracts compared to Buffalo’s Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs, who combined for more than $3,600 on the Bills’ salary cap this season. Ten thousand U.S. dollars.
“Those guys are doing their rookie deal. We’re paying Stefon Diggs pretty good. We’re paying Josh Allen pretty good. So, there’s [are] Salary cap constraints, but they’ve got a really good team,” Beane said. “They’ve got some good young players. We’re going to try to get as many good players as possible through the draft and free agency. However, our salary cap situation is a little different. “
