The Buffalo Bills were able to come to terms with starting cornerback on a four-year extension worth $76 million. The deal makes Benford the 13th-highest paid cornerback in the NFL after a four-year run as one of the most underrated players in the league.
Plenty of people deserve credit for getting a deal done. Benford clearly deserved his new deal. General manager Brandon Beane got creative in extending a star on limited cap resources.
But when it comes to true credit, the Bills should also thank quarterback Josh Allen.
Allen's contract extension this offseason that paid him now $55 million on average gave Buffalo some necessary room to lock-up Benford to a long-term deal. It was something that was done by design this offseason.
"I know I was kind of sitting there just like I understood the impact of getting an extension done, creating some cap space," Allen said. "It's kind of a weird situation where it's like I've had a big contract before, and it doesn't really change how I lived in my life. I know that this opens up some space for cap and signing some free agents. I think we've been having a pretty good free agent run so far."
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By taking a deal that was creative enough to manipulate so Buffalo could re-sign many of their stars shows how much Allen understands helping the team with cap control is.
It allows the team to bring back top players like Greg Rousseau and Terrel Bernard.
And now it has helped bring back the team's lockdown cornerback.
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This story was originally published March 30, 2025 at 8:00 AM.
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