John Wawrow of the Associated Press, citing a person with direct knowledge of discussions, reports that the Buffalo Bills plan to cut DE Mario Williams at some point during offseason.
According to Wawrow, there’s no timetable as to when Williams will be released, but his source said that Williams is likely to be playing his final game for the Bills on Sunday.
This isn’t the first we’ve seen in recent weeks that Williams could be a cap casualty in 2016. Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reported that it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Bills move on from Williams, given his lack of production in Rex Ryan’s system and sizable salary.
Even with his struggles, Williams could end up be a sought after veteran free agent much like Julius Peppers was a few years ago.
Williams, 30, is in the fourth year of his six-year, $96 million contract that included $50 million guaranteed. He’ll make a base salary of $12.1 million this season to go along with $11.5 million in 2016 and $11.4 million in 2017.
According to OverTheCap.com, releasing Williams would free up $12.9 million in cap space for the Bills while creating $7 million in dead money.
This season, Williams has appeared in 14 games and recorded 17 tackles and four sacks for the Bills. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 47 defensive end in a 4-3 defense out of 51 qualifying players.
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