Buffalo Bills’ President of Football Operations and General Manager Brandon Beane started the 2026 offseason with a bang, trading for Chicago Bears’ wide receiver D.J. Moore last Thursday and then proceeding to re-sign veteran center Connor McGovern to a four-year deal before dipping into the free-agent waters on Monday afternoon to sign former Atlanta Falcons’ nickel cornerback Dee Alford to a three-year deal and veteran backup quarterback Kyle Allen to a two-year deal just a few short hours after the NFL’s legal tampering window opened at Noon ET yesterday.
It was also announced late in the evening that the Bills had re-signed veteran punter Mitch Wishnowsky to a one-year deal.
However, since then — it’s been practically crickets. Quiet. Eerily quiet.
The only other news as of early Tuesday evening was that Buffalo had made sure to get two of its own back into the fold for the at least 2026, as Buffalo managed to come to an agreement with longtime tight end Dawson Knox on a three-year extension and was also able to renegotiate the deal for kicker Tyler Bass, trimming his salary next season by $1.5 million while guaranteeing only $1 million in total. The former 2020 sixth-round draft pick will have a chance to earn another $1 million back in incentives.
Although he did not play last season due to injury, Bass is 131-for-155 (84.5 %) on field goals in his career and 264-of-274 (96.4 %) on extra points since entering the league out of Georgia Southern University according to StatMuse.
As for Knox’s extension, it was essentially also a pay cut for the former 2019 third-round pick out of Ole Miss.
Previously set to carry a cap hit hovering around $17 million next season, it was apparent that Knox wasn’t going to be playing for the Bills at that price in 2026. The question was always whether or not the 6-foot-4, 254-pound tight end was going to come back at a reduced price or eventually be traded elsewhere.
Well, Tuesday provided the answer.
Knox will return next season and is contractually tied to the Bills through 2028.
Once a starter early in his career, Knox has been a reliable number two target behind fellow tight end Dalton Kincaid since the Bills drafted his counterpart in the first round in 2023, and Buffalo’s seven-year veteran has always been the better blocker of the two, which is certainly a valuable piece to have around.
The Tennessee native also shares a strong connection with quarterback Josh Allen, so it always made sense to come to a revised agreement between the two parties, and Brandon Beane made sure to push toward a resolution sooner rather than later.
Full terms of the deal weren’t initially disclosed, but the new deal is expected to lower the tight end’s cap hit next season by around $4 million to $6 million, which would be much more palatable for Buffalo and provide much-needed cap relief heading into the start of the new league year tomorrow at 4 p.m. ET.
For his career, Knox has tallied 229 receptions for 2,694 yards and 27 touchdowns on 348 targets in the regular season, while raking in 38 catches for 382 yards and six touchdowns in the postseason. He will turn 30 years old in November.
With all that said, the Bills expect to still be active in the free-agent market in the coming days as the team still has plenty of needs to fill prior to the upcoming NFL draft in April, particularly at safety, linebacker, EDGE, defensive tackle, and guard.
For that reason, make sure to stay tuned to all of Buffalo’s offseason movements right here at the Buffalo Fambase blog.
Editor’s babble: Many thanks to John Green for his contributions to our blog. You can also find John on X @JGreen_PRsports.
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