Do Bills Have Cap Room for Mathis?

By Paul Wanecski
As far as articles go, this one will be quick. Looking at the 2015 Bills, the need for a dependable Guard is without a doubt debatable. The writing has been on the wall in regards to Evan Mathis with the Eagles for some time now. He enter the free agent market as hands down the best player available. So the question of how valuable he is versus how much you are willing to pay him immediately comes to light.

The Bills are currently shaving the cap with only $7.3 million in space remaining. Let's make some room because Mathis instantly upgrades your team, even at his age.

The easiest way to manufacture cap space would be to cut:

Chris Williams- could save $2.475 this season but pushes some dead money into next year. If not a post-June 1st release, the team saves $725k

Matt Cassel- if he isn't the clear number one at this point, will he ever be? You could basically swap Cassel for Mathis in contract dollar. His release saves $4.75 million

Leodis McKelvin- this saves about $2 million. The team is starting to load up on defensive backs but having him on your roster only helps your defense.

None of those moves are really even needed. At age 33, Mathis was in search of a better situation. He was saying he was unhappy with his contract, but let's be real, he was seeking sanctuary from Chip Kelly. Expect him to sign a 3 year deal at best. Honestly, teams may go nuts over him showering 1 year offers. Mathis doesn't seem like the type who is ready to prove he can still play.

So what would t take? The Bills would be top of the market to offer a 3 year, $19 million dollar deal. It would anticipated that a reasonable signing bonus would e most attractive to Mathis and really in the Bills best interest as well. $7 million would do the trick with another $4 million guaranteed. That would bring 2015 $4 million in base salary and $2.3 in prorated signing bonus cash per year. All in all, it is probably as close as he would get to the contract that he had in Philadelphia. His annual cap figure considering each season of equal value to $6.3 million against the cap. The Bills have that room.