{"id":825626,"date":"2026-03-21T19:24:02","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T19:24:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/825626\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T19:24:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T19:24:02","slug":"buffalo-bills-most-significant-free-agent-loss-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/825626\/","title":{"rendered":"Buffalo Bills\u2019 most significant free-agent loss in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NFL. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Bills fans and fans across the country. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smartsurvey.co.uk\/s\/EFIUQ7\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up here<\/a> to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Like any offseason, the Buffalo Bills watched several unrestricted free-agents walk out the doors of One Bills Drive en route to new deals early in March. Free agency remains one of the NFL\u2019s biggest off-field draws for fans due to the high-stakes nature of signing players to significant and often risky contracts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Sometimes a team is better off letting their own free agents walk, rather than sign them to a bigger deal for production they may never find in-house. It\u2019s not always about a player\u2019s ability, but their fit within the system, and, course, the culture. However, most often it\u2019s really just about what the front office can afford to do against the NFL salary cap.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">For the Bills in 2026, it appears to be a mix of at least a couple things. There is, of course, the very real fact that Buffalo can\u2019t just hand out money in all directions. President of football operations\/general manager Brandon Beane has leveraged contract moves with current players, which has them a bit north (before officially losing Ryan Van Demark) of $11 million under the 2026 salary cap. But to retain every player from last season would require far more money, and that\u2019s without even considering how they fit into the coming season\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">There\u2019s a new, but familiar, head coach in Joe Brady, and he\u2019s brought in a new defensive coordinator, namely Jim Leonhard. Both are first-time coaches in their respective roles, and it\u2019s quite possible that those free-agent players Buffalo has allowed to walk were no longer good fits with the Bills.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">With only the benefit of understanding how each performed and fit the system prior to 2026, which of Buffalo\u2019s free-agent losses to this point do you believe most harms the team in 2026? Is it backup quarterback Mitch Trubisky, fullback Reggie Gilliam, left guard David Edwards, defensive back cam Lewis, safety Darnell Savage Jr., defensive end A.J. Epenesa, or perhaps reserve offensive tackle Ryan Van Demark?<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Be sure to vote in the poll below the embedded tweet!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NFL. Throughout the year we ask questions&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":825627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1622,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-825626","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-buffalo-bills-opinion","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116268804770644777","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=825626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/825627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=825626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=825626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=825626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}