Bills Clips
Buffalo is moving on from another one of its veteran players.
The Bills are releasing receiver Curtis Samuel, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports.
Samuel, 29, had one year remaining on his contract with Buffalo. His release will create $6.06 million in cap savings with a $3.45 million dead cap charge.
Samuel appeared in 14 games with two starts in 2024, his first season with the club. But he played just six games in 2025, catching seven passes for 81 yards with one touchdown.
The Bills are revamping their receiving corps for 2026, having agreed to trade for DJ Moore earlier this week.
Buffalo is moving on from one of its veteran defenders.
According to multiple reports, the Bills are releasing cornerback Taron Johnson.
Johnson, 29, has spent his entire career with the Bills to this point, playing 113 games with 87 starts since the club selected him in the fourth round of the 2018 draft. In 2025, he recorded 57 total tackles with four passes defensed in 13 contests. He was on the field for 74 percent of defensive snaps and four percent of special teams snaps in games played.
Johnson was under contract through 2027. He could be a candidate for a post-June 1 designation on his release, as without it, the Bills are set to save $1.9 million against the cap with a $9.5 million dead cap charge. With a post-June 1 designation, Johnson’s release will save $8.67 million against the cap with a $2.74 dead cap charge in 2026.
The trade that will, as of next Wednesday, send receiver DJ Moore from the Bears to the Bills counts as a win-win.
For the Bears, the deal provided a path away from a contract that no longer made financial sense, given the other weapons the team has and Moore’s overall production in 2025.
He arrived via trade with the Panthers in 2023, as part of the deal that allowed the Panthers to make quarterback Bryce Young the No. 1 overall pick that year — and that gave the Bears the 2024 first-rounder that became the No. 1 overall pick (and quarterback Caleb Williams) the next year.
After catching 96 passes for 1,364 yards and eight touchdowns (all career highs) in 2023, Moore got a new contract. In 2024, he caught 96 passes for 966 yards and six touchdowns. In both seasons, he started all 17 games.
Last year, Moore also started all 17 games. But his playing time dropped to 80 percent from 95 the year before. And he was targeted only 85 times (down from 140 the prior season), catching a career-low 50 passes.
With plenty of other weapons available to Williams (receivers Rome Odunze and Luther Burden III, and tight ends Colston Loveland and Cole Kmet), Moore became a luxury. His $23.485 million for 2026 was already fully guaranteed, and another $15.5 million in 2027 base salary would have become fully guaranteed next Friday. The move allows the Bears to escape $38.9 million in future guarantees. That cash and cap space can be devoted to improving the roster elsewhere.
The Bears ultimately upgraded a fifth-round pick to a second-round pick while dumping a large financial commitment. And the move allows the Bears to devote a greater portion of the overall passing game to the other players who will be back for 2026.
We now know the trade terms for Buffalo’s acquisition of receiver DJ Moore.
Per Tom Pelissero of NFL Media, the Bills are trading a 2026 second-round pick to the Bears in exchange for Moore and a 2026 fifth-round pick.
Via Adam Schefter of ESPN, the Bills are guaranteeing $15.5 million of Moore’s 2028 base salary with the deal. Moore’s 2026 salary is already fully guaranteed already with his 2027 salary becoming fully guaranteed next week.
Moore, 28, was a Panthers first-round pick in 2018. He’s averaged 79 catches for 1,066 yards with five touchdowns in his eight seasons. But he saw his role reduced with the Bears in 2025, catching just 50 passes for 682 yards with six touchdowns despite starting all 17 games.
Once the deal becomes official next week, he will immediately become the top receiving option for quarterback Josh Allen on the Bills.
The Bills are bringing in a new top offensive weapon.
According to multiple reports, Buffalo and Chicago have agreed to a trade that will send receiver DJ Moore to the Bills.
The deal cannot become official until the start of the new league year next week.
While specific terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed, reports indicate Chicago will receive a mid-round pick in exchange for Moore.
Moore, 28, saw his role reduced in Chicago’s offense in 2025. Though he started all 17 games, he finished with career lows in receptions (50) and yards (682).
Moore was last traded in 2023, as part of the deal that sent the No. 1 overall pick to the Panthers. He finished his first season in Chicago with 96 catches for 1,364 yards with eight touchdowns and followed that with 98 receptions for 966 yards with six touchdowns in 2024.
With the deal, Moore will reunite with Joe Brady, who served as Moore’s offensive coordinator with the Panthers from 2020-2021.
Moore has been particularly durable, last missing a game in 2020.
In his eight seasons, he’s caught 608 passes for 8,213 yards with 41 TDs.
With Moore, the Bills will now have a top-caliber receiving weapon for quarterback Josh Allen — a role the team has not had over the last couple of seasons. Last year, Khaliil Shakir led the club with 72 receptions and 719 yards receiving.
Connor McGovern has been a fixture on the Bills offensive line for the last three seasons, but he expects to be wearing a different uniform during the 2026 season.
McGovern told Tim Graham of TheAthletic.com that he’d like to remain with the Bills and that he thinks they’d re-sign him in an ideal scenario, “but sometimes you’ve got to look in the mirror and be realistic.” In this case, McGovern’s reality is being formed by a lack of communication from the Bills since the team’s loss to the Broncos in the playoffs.
“They haven’t contacted me once,” McGovern said. “In my gut, that says it’s over and done.”
McGovern, who is No. 30 on PFT’s list of this year’s top free agents, started at guard in Buffalo in 2023 before moving to center for the last two seasons. Tyler Linderbaum is seen as the top center set to become a free agent next week and McGovern could find plenty of suitors among teams that aren’t going to land the former Ravens first-rounder’s signature on a contract.
The asking price is known. The outcome isn’t.
Where will defensive end Maxx Crosby play next?
DraftKings has the Bears as the +200 favorites to secure his services via trade with the Raiders. Staying put with the Raiders is a +350 proposition.
Five teams are clustered at +700: the Rams (Fuck Them Picks, Part Two), Cowboys, Bills, Ravens, and Eagles.
The Patriots land at +1000, with the Lions and Buccaneers at +1200.
The Raiders, as PFT reported last week, want two first-round picks and a player for Crosby. Crosby, as Jay Glazer said during Super Bowl week, is “done” with the Raiders.
Whether this saga is done remains to be seen. Although no trades can become official until next Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. ET, teams can reach tentative agreements now.
In the twelve days since the Dolphins released receiver Tyreek Hill, no other team has emerged as a serious suitor to sign him. During four days at the Scouting Combine, no one said anything to suggest that a pursuit of Hill was happening, or looming.
That makes it difficult, to say the least, to predict his next team. Guesses are nevertheless welcome, via a “next team” wager at DraftKings.
The Chiefs are the current favorites, at +150. Next are the Bills at +600, the Ravens at +700, and the Chargers at +800.
The Patriots, Raiders, and Rams are +1400. The Steelers, Giants, and Broncos are +1600. The 49ers have +1800 odds.
Last week, Chiefs coach Andy Reid provided a lukewarm (at best) assessment regarding a possible reunion, citing Hill’s current health. He continues to recover from a serious knee injury suffered against the Jets in Week 4.
"[W]e talk about everything,” Reid said. “So there’s nothing happening there, but we know what you know — that he’s out there and cranking away, trying to get himself back to where he can play, period.”
There’s another factor when it comes to Hill. As one source put it during our time in Indianapolis, it could be an even more important concern than his knee.
Hill remains the subject of a lingering Personal Conduct Policy investigation, arising from domestic violence allegations made by his estranged wife. And, at times, Hill has been hard to handle. Discontent in Kansas City, coupled with a desire for a new contract after Davante Adams signed with the Raiders in 2022, sparked a trade to Miami while Hill was still squarely in his prime. At the end of the 2024 season, Hill said it was time for him to leave the Dolphins. (He later embarked on a Super Bowl-week apology tour.)
When a player has elite skills, the other stuff can more easily be overlooked. When the skills begin to slip, it’s harder to ignore the factors that make a player less desirable.
At this point, Hill could become a player that teams will begin to seriously assess after free agency and the draft. Any team that hasn’t otherwise addressed the receiver position by early May could pivot to Hill.
For now, it seems as if most if not all teams are content to focus on other options. When the dust settles on the usual paths for adding new players, Hill’s status could come into better focus.
Still, the first question is when and if he’ll be healthy. The second question is whether a team is willing to embrace a player who could be facing a suspension, and who could have a hard time dealing with being anything other than the No. 1 receiver and, in turn, the focal point of the passing game.
Adams has embraced being second fiddle to Puka Nacua in L.A. Hill may need to accept that same kind of role — and to convince a prospective team that, when he says it, he means it.
The Eagles made it clear this week that they’ll listen to offers for receiver A.J. Brown. Whether they’ll accept one remains to be seen.
Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer believes, based on “sources close to several Eagles,” that a decision will be made sooner than later.
With the negotiation period for free agents opening on March 9, the Eagles presumably would want to move quickly to replace Brown, if they’ll be trading him. Still, they won’t do the deal unless they get what they want.
One thing they may want is an agreement to delay the trade until after June 1. That’s when the cap consequences arising from a trade would be split over two years, instead of being fully absorbed in 2026.
The price for Brown isn’t known. McLane suggests that, at a minimum, the Eagles would want a second-round pick. If multiple teams compete for Brown, the Eagles could get more.
Teams to watch include the Patriots, Bills, Ravens, and Chargers.
They’ve done a good job of being coy about their plans. But it’s obvious that he’s available, for the right proposal. Whether they get an offer they’ll accept remains to be seen.
Teams making decisions about picking up the fifth-year options on the contracts of their 2023 first-round picks now know how much that will cost.
The NFL revealed the values on Friday afternoon. There are four levels of compensation at each position. Players who have made multiple Pro Bowls as an original selection are at the top followed by players with one Pro Bowl selection and players who have hit playing time milestones before reaching the lowest level.
Panthers quarterback Bryce Young and Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud were the first two picks of that draft and both of them reached the playing time level of compensation. That will leave them with fully guaranteed salaries of $25.904 million if the teams decide to exercise the options, but longer-term extensions are also a possibility now that they have finished their third seasons.
The full list of 2023 first-rounders — there were 31 that year because the Dolphins were stripped of their pick — and their fifth-year option salaries appears below:
1. Panthers QB Bryce Young — $25.904 million (playing time).
2. Texans QB C.J. Stroud — $25.904 million (playing time).
3. Texans DE Will Anderson — $21.512 (Pro Bowl).
4. Colts QB Anthony Richardson — $22.483 million (base).
5. Seahawks CB Devon Witherspoon — $21.161 million (multiple Pro Bowls).
6. Cardinals OT Paris Johnson — $19.072 million (playing time).
7. Raiders DE Tyree Wilson — $14.475 million (base).
8. Falcons RB Bijan Robinson — $11.323 million (Pro Bowl).
9. Eagles DT Jalen Carter — $27.127 million (multiple Pro Bowls).
10. Bears OT Darnell Wright — $19.072 million (playing time).
11. Titans OG Peter Skoronski — $19.072 million (playing time).
12. Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs — $14.293 million (multiple Pro Bowls).
13. Packers DE Lukas Van Ness — $14.475 million (base).
14. Steelers OT Broderick Jones — $19.072 million (playing time).
15. Jets DE Will McDonald — $14.475 million (base).
16. Rams CB Emmanuel Forbes — $12.633 million (base).
17. Patriots CB Christian Gonzalez — $18.119 million (Pro Bowl).
18. Lions LB Jack Campbell — $21.925 million (Pro Bowl).
19. Buccaneers DT Calijah Kancey — $15.451 (playing time).
20. Seahawks WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba — $23.852 million (Pro Bowl).
21. Chargers WR Quentin Johnston — $18 million (playing time).
22. Ravens WR Zay Flowers — $27.298 million (multiple Pro Bowls).
23. Vikings WR Jordan Addison — $18 million (playing time).
24. Giants CB Deonte Banks — $12.633 million (base).
25. Bills TE Dalton Kincaid — $8.162 million (base).
26. Jets DT Mazi Smith — $13.391 million (base) Smith was traded to the Jets by the Cowboys.
27. Jaguars OT Anton Harrison — $19.072 million (playing time).
28. Bengals DE Myles Murphy — $14.475 million (base).
29. Saints DT Bryan Bresee — $13.391 million (base).
30. Eagles LB Nolan Smith — $13.752 million (base).
31. Chiefs Felix Anudike-Uzomah — $14.475 million (base).
