Just because the Denver Broncos managed to end their season with a gut punch in the Divisional Round of the AFC playoff race doesn’t mean that the entire 2025 regular season should be viewed as a failure for the Buffalo Bills. After all, it’s hard to stick your nose up at a 12-win season, even if you fell short of expectations elsewhere, and the franchise seems to be aware of that.
Less than 24 hours after the Seattle Seahawks were crowned as this year’s Super Bowl champions, the Bills were forced to send out a series of contract guarantees pertaining to some of their largest contributors from the past season.
Given the rate of production that all four guys were able to provide Buffalo with, it’s safe to say that it was money well spent, but what no one likely realized was that the front office would have to hand out more than $50 million in the span of just a few hours.
Seeing as their star running back, James Cook, has been able to rack up 32 touchdowns throughout the past two seasons, you’ll be hard pressed to find anyone who’s upset about the franchise granting him a $9.4-million payday for the upcoming 2026 season. And now that he’s managed to generate 700+ receiving yards and four touchdowns for a second consecutive year, the same can also be said about Khalil Shakir and his $11.9 million.
The largest chunk of the cash will go towards their standout CB, Christian Benford, who managed to record two interceptions and two fumbles, along with 43 combined tackles, just one year after finishing 22nd in the Defensive Player of the Year race. Apart from that, Benford’s fellow defender and linebacker, Terrel Bernard, received an $8.9-million guarantee for the upcoming 2026 season.
With Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, and Joe Burrow, having all been absent from this year’s playoffs, it’s likely that everyone in Buffalo was shaking their heads as they watched Seattle hoist the Lombardi last night, knowing good and well that Allen could have offered up a better fight than the one that we got from Drake Maye and the rest of the New England Patriots.
Nevertheless, the Bills have no one to blame but themselves, and if they want to resolve those feelings of wasted destiny, then they’ll almost certainly have to spend even more cash than this at some point later in the offseason.
Until then, however, the only folks that will be celebrating up north today will be the four aforementioned players, their agents, and their bankers, as those dollars won’t do much for a fan base that has yet to see its first championship.