The Bills’ four-year, $68 million deal with DT Ed Oliver provides all of us with a great lesson on positional value in today’s NFL. The contract itself isn’t dissimilar from the one that Oliver’s fellow former Buffalo first-rounder Tremaine Edmunds just did in Chicago (he signed for $72 million over four years) and that, on Saturday, raised obvious questions, since Edmunds has been the splashier, more visible player over the past few years.
The answer is sitting on the Bills’ cap table. Their six highest-paid players, in order and by APY, are as follows: a quarterback, a receiver, an edge rusher, a corner, (now) a pass-rushing 3-technique defensive tackle and a left tackle. After that, you get an off-ball linebacker, in Matt Milano, who came in at a more affordable price than Edmunds; a tight end; a safety; and a center.
The bottom line in all of it is that this is how teams that have tough choices to make do it now.
