Bills let key offensive depth leave for Vikings for just $700,000

It didn't seem like that much money.

Apparently, though, the Buffalo Bills decided that $700,000 was too much to pay to keep around a key offensive contributor.

On Friday afternoon, NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reported this:

"The Bills will not match the offer sheet to OL Ryan Van Demark, who is headed to the Vikings on a one-year, $4.2 million fully guaranteed deal, sources tell The Insiders."

The key here is that the Bills had extended a qualifying offer to Van Demark to a qualifying tender that would be worth $3.5 million over one year.

So the comparison here really isn't between $4.2 million and 0. It's just between $4.2 and $3.5 million.

And the Bills didn't want to pay that.

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Buffalo had five days to match the Van Demark offer after the Vikings made it, and evidently, they chose not to.

Van Demark is a key depth lineman who can play in different spots.

The 6-foot-6, 307-pound Van Demark played in all 17 games for the Bills in 2025, starting four.

He had played 26 games over the previous two seasons, including two starts.

That, a bit surprisingly, is the end of his time in Buffalo.

Van Demark is now heading to Minnesota to put on the purple and play for the Vikings.

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