BUFFALO, N.Y. — As Sean McDermott drove to One Bills Drive for the Buffalo Bills’ Divisional Round game vs. the Kansas City Chiefs, he thought about how the moment represented a final opportunity.

“One last time,” he said, “for [safeties Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde] to run outta the tunnel again and hear their names

For the Bills, it is the end of an era. The future came calling, with big contracts and injuries leading to moves that will reshape parts of the team.

The season ended with yet another playoff loss to the Chiefs, and on Wednesday, the Bills went through a series of moves to create cap room and move toward that new era, releasing starters and leaders in Poyer, cornerback Tre’Davious White — per sources — and center Mitch Morse.

Poyer and Hyde, who went into the offseason openly contemplating retirement and is set to become a free agent next week, were both signed as free agents in 2017 and White was the first draft pick selected under McDermott.

Since 2017, the Bills broke a historic playoff drought, have the fourth-best record in football and have become a consistent contender, especially with quarterback Josh Allen. Success has become expected.

Most of the moves made this week were logical steps for a team that entered Wednesday more than $40 million over the cap. General manager Brandon Beane has been upfront about a desire to not push too much money down the road.

“We’re working through getting under and then how much can we create without totally piling up a huge mess, you know, in ’25 or ’26,” Beane said at the NFL combine last week.

So, the Bills put in the work on “getting under,” with the combined moves clearing almost the entire amount the team needed to get cap compliant for the start of the league year, in addition to $10.2 million in cap space created in June with White designated as a post-June 1 release.

The team also moved on from key special teams player Siran Neal, running back Nyheim Hines, wide receiver Deonte Harty. Key re-structures are also being done to the contracts of both pass-rusher Von Miller — a significant move as the splash to sign Miller in 2022 impacted the roster in several ways — and cornerback Rasul Douglas.

They get the Bills much closer to the cap number with only one major restructure in Miller, soon to be 35, while also not pushing his money down the road. The other obvious restructure to come is to Allen’s contract, which could now theoretically be the only one the Bills need to do.

Signing Allen to a significant contract early, extending Stefon Diggs in a big way in 2022 and bringing in Miller as the Bills worked to make the steps needed to reach the Super Bowl put the Bills in the cap situation they were in with the need to clear space. Ultimately, however, the team fell short with poor injury luck and just not reaching that final stage. Now the quest continues to stay as competitive as possible, but still on an annual basis, not consistently in tough cap spots.

The choices that the Bills make this offseason are crucial to continue to build around Allen, with Wednesday’s moves already showing a progression to a younger roster with 11 projected draft picks awaiting Beane in April and now, the beginning of cap space to make some moves in free agency.