Heading into a contract year, Bills safety Jordan Poyer is set to represent a cap hit of $10.78MM on Buffalo’s books for the 2022 NFL season. This provides a rare situation in the NFL where it becomes beneficial for both parties to negotiate towards an extension. At 31-years-old, Poyer can likely find more money and a better fit in Buffalo than he could in free agency and a new contract would give the Bills an opportunity to soften Poyer’s cap hit. 
Poyer entered the league as a seventh-round pick for the Eagles in 2013. After being a healthy-scratch in Weeks 5 & 6 for Philadelphia, Poyer was waived, getting claimed off waivers by the Browns two days later. Poyer spent the next three seasons in Cleveland as a backup safety and backup punt returner. He earned four starts in 2015 when starting free safety Tashaun Gipson suffered an ankle injury. When Gipson left in free agency the next offseason, Poyer was named the Browns’ starting free safety going into the 2016 NFL season. After six starts, Poyer was hit by Antonio Andrews with an illegal blindside block while Poyer was covering a punt. Poyer was rushed to the hospital with a lacerated kidney and a possible concussion. He would miss the remainder of the season on injured reserve.
After his recovery, Poyer signed a four-year, $13MM deal with the Bills as a free agent. Bills head coach Sean McDermott named Poyer the starting strong safety alongside fellow-newcomer to Buffalo Micah Hyde, who had just signed as a free agent after four years in Green Bay. This would mark the beginning of a five-year, ongoing stretch as one of the league’s most consistent and effective safety duos.
Poyer and Hyde immediately made their presence known in Buffalo as both recorded five interceptions each in their first year as Bills. Over the last five seasons, Poyer has missed only two games while tallying 18 interceptions and 36 passes defensed. Despite outpacing Hyde for interceptions during their time in Buffalo, Poyer has also played with more versatility with time as a box safety. Poyer has forced six fumbles, recovering six, as well. He’s also added 10.0 sacks and 29.0 tackles for loss in his past five seasons, proving to be a true Swiss army knife in the Bills’ secondary.
Before his initial contract expired, Poyer signed his current two-year, $19.5MM extension, keeping him on the roster through 2022. Before the 2021 season, though, Buffalo and Poyer agreed to rework his contract, converting $5.2MM of his base salary into a signing bonus. The moved saved the Bills $2.6MM in cap space for 2021, but elevated Poyer’s 2022 cap hit from $7.7MM to his current $10.78MM number.
Being one of the older safeties in the NFL, Poyer is likely looking at a two- or three-year extension. Three years would be a very generous offer from the Bills based on knowing Poyer fits in their locker room and crediting him for having one of his best statistical seasons at 30-years-old. A two-year deal is much more likely.
Looking into value, the better safeties in the league are making anywhere from $13MM per year to $16MM per year. Taking his age and past deals into account, I imagine the Bills might offer Poyer something in the range of $12MM-$13.5MM in average annual value. My best guess would have Poyer signing a two-year, $25MM deal that gives him a good amount of guaranteed money.
The Bills have a good thing going with Poyer and Hyde manning centerfield. They haven’t been drafting to replace the duo and have no reason to until their play begins to decline. Vic Carucci of WGRZ in Buffalo thinks that training camp is the perfect time to extend their safety, saying Poyer is “far too valuable to leave him with any feelings of uncertainty about his future in Buffalo.”