Michael Hoecht heads to the Buffalo Bills as a signing of the team during the NFL’s 2025 NFL free agency frenzy.
Hoecht agreed to a three-year, $21 million deal in Buffalo. According to Spotrac, a deeper dive has it potentially at just a two-year contract.
In breaking down the deal, Spotrac reveals it has $13.43M guaranteed with a pair of void years attached to the contract. Those help the Bills spread out the cap hit to keep it lower over those years.
LB Michael Hoecht’s #Bills Contract
– 3 years, $21M
– $13.43M guaranteed
– 2 void years
– 2 yrs, $14.65M practicalCap Hits
2025: $4.4M
2026: $7.5M
2027: $7.2M
2028: $1.7M voidBreakdown: https://t.co/8h5jBEzBTH
— Spotrac (@spotrac) March 11, 2025
Over the course of Hoecht’s deal, various bonuses and other items will be factored in. What matters most to fans usually is the salary cap implications and that’s where the “out” reported by Spotrac comes into play.
The first two years see Hoecht cost $4.48M and $7.528M against Buffalo’s salary cap, respectively.
Over the course of that same time period, the dead-cap hits on it contract are $13.4M and $9.5M, respectively. Essentially over those years it would cost the Bills more against their cap to cut Hoecht than to keep him.
Then that changes in Year 3.
Those years sees Hoecht’s cap hit at $7.28M and the dead-cap hit at just $2.6M if he’s cut. That’s a savings of approximately $4.68M for the team, which is a move the Bills would take… or a contract extension would be discussed if general manager Brandon Beane wants to keep Hoecht around.
Bills Wire will continue to provide updates throughout the 2025 offseason.
This article originally appeared on Bills Wire: Contract details for Buffalo Bills DE Michael Hoecht
