The Buffalo Bills once again have one of the least expensive rosters in the NFL.

The Bills stand eighth from the bottom in the 32-team league in terms of the overall value of the contracts of all the players on the current roster, according to league financial data obtained by The Buffalo News.

The current contracts of all the Bills players add up to about $458 million, according to The News' analysis. The NFL average is $535 million. Minnesota is at the top at $728 million and Carolina is at the bottom at $353 million. The NFL average is $535 million.

It's important to note that teams will not end up giving all this money to the players on their roster. The figures include all the players in training camp as of last week and also include some exorbitant salaries at the end of some giant contracts that those players won't see.

Nevertheless, the figures are the wide-angle view of each franchise's player spending. They reflect the number of marquee players on each team's roster and each organization's willingness to hand out big contracts.

The Bills do not have many marquee players. They only have five players on contracts that average more than $5 million a year -- Lee Evans ($8.2 million), Marcus Stroud ($8.2 million), C.J. Spiller ($7.4 million), Terrence McGee ($6 million) and Chris Kelsay ($5.75 million). They also have not had to pay out the biggest rookie contracts, of $50 million or more, that go to the top five. At least 16 quarterbacks in the NFL make $10 million a year or more.

The salary data also indicates the Bills are in the middle of a very profitable stretch of seasons.

The key salary data for each team is how much cash is being paid out to players each fiscal year. This often is referred to as "cash to cap," meaning spending in real dollars versus the NFL salary cap total for a given year. Last year the salary cap for each team was $128 million. This year, the last of the league's collective bargaining agreement with the players, there is no salary cap, meaning teams can spend as much or as little as they want.

The Bills will be under the cap in terms of cash for a third straight year. (They were slightly over the cap in cash spending in 2007). In 2008, they were about $15 million under the cap with cash spending of about $100 million, according to News figures. In 2009 they were at about $116.5 million in cash spending, again according to News figures. That was roughly $11 million under the cap.

The Bills ranked 20th in the NFL in cash spending last year, according to ESPN senior writer John Clayton.

This year, the Bills are standing at about $108 million in real cash payouts, The News calculates. This is somewhat dependent on who makes the team, and will go up depending on how many injuries the team has and if any players get contract extensions. If there were a salary cap this year, it would be at least $130 million.

That cash spending indicates the Bills are going to have a third straight very profitable year. How profitable? That's harder to determine, since NFL teams don't open their books.

Forbes Magazine estimated the Bills' "operating income" for 2009 was $39 million, which the magazine calculates as the team's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

Forbes estimated Green Bay's operating income at $20 million for 2009. The Packers, who are publicly owned and must release financial information, reported an operating profit for the 2009 fiscal year of $9.8 million in June.

The teams with the greatest spending, in terms of the total value of the current contracts of all the players in camp are: 1. Minnesota. 2. Atlanta. 3. Dallas. 4. New York Giants. 5. San Francisco. 6. Seattle. 7. Green Bay. 8. Chicago. 9. Pittsburgh. 10. Philadelphia.

The teams with the lowest spending were: 32. Carolina. 31. Kansas City. 30. Tampa Bay. 29. St. Louis. 28. Cleveland.

There are numerous ways to calculate spending in the NFL. Another commonly used figure is "salary cap spending," which counts base salary plus roster, reporting and workout bonuses. It also includes the amortized signing bonus a player received. The Bills' Evans, for instance, got a $4.4 million signing bonus in 2009, and that counts $1.1 million against the Bills' cap every year for the next four years of Evans' contract.

The Bills don't give out a lot of signing bonuses. They prefer to give players roster bonuses, which aren't amortized, so they count in full toward the cap in the year they are given. This makes it easier to adhere to a cash-to-cap policy.

In terms of cap spending, the Bills ranked 32nd in the NFL last year, at $120.8 million, according to NFL Players Association figures obtained by The News. The league average was $128 million.

This year, the Bills are 28th in cap spending, at $113.6 million. (The union still keeps track of cap spending, even though there is no cap.)

Most fans focus on the cap limit, which last year was $128 million. Up until this season, there also was a cap minimum that teams must spend. Last year it was $108 million.

Cap spending isn't really as good a gauge of a team's financial commitment, however, because it can be manipulated for accounting purposes. Teams that amortize many signing bonuses (Dallas, the New York Giants, Washington, Indianapolis, New England and Washington top the list) actually can spend a lot more but have a similar cap number as teams that don't.

Nevertheless, because there is no minimum spending requirement this year, many teams are taking advantage by spending less.

The teams at the bottom of cap spending this year are: Tampa ($94.7 million), Kansas City ($97 million) and Jacksonville ($101 million).

"Cash expenditures are what really matters," said Andrew Brandt, former Green Bay executive and columnist for the National Football Post. "Cap can be manipulated either way up or down. Cash is the real issue in the discussion. My sense is that there is going to be teams this year paying cash outlays of under $90 million."

Many fans and media focused attention this offseason on the prospect of big-market teams spending wildly on players, since there is no salary cap.

"That hasn't happened," Brandt said. "What I think is happening is a handful Ô even more than a handful of teams Ô are going the other way, using this year as a year to get costs under control. Finance their debt if they have it, and get ready for the new system in 2011 or whenever that may be. And the Bills may be one of those teams. That is kind of ramping down in this unique, special year, only to -- we would assume -- ramp up again when the new system is in place."

The Bills saved $8 million in salary this summer when their highest paid player, defensive end Aaron Schobel, retired.

Might they reinvest that money by extending some players' contracts? Time will tell.

Younger Bills players whose contracts are nearing an end include: linebacker Paul Posluszny (whose deal runs out this year), safety Donte Whitner (2011) and receiver Roscoe Parrish (2011). The deals of safety Jairus Byrd and cornerback Leodis McKelvin run out in 2012. Trent Edwards, Chris Kelsay and George Wilson are in the last year of their deals.

mgaughan@buffnews.comnull