Earlier this month, the Buffalo Bills converted nearly all of the base salary Stefon Diggs was set to earn in 2021 to a new signing bonus, allowing them to pro-rate it over the final three years of his deal. It created almost $8 million in salary cap space for Buffalo in 2021, pushing those cap hits into the final two years on the contract in 2022 and 2023.
The move was largely possible because Buffalo traded for Stefon Diggs, and he had no dead money on his contract at all. Without large dead cap hits in his final three seasons, the Bills were able to manage their 2021 with a little help from the future.