A buffer management system for a data processing system can include a plurality of tokens wherein each token is associated with one of a plurality of buffers, and a plurality of first-in-first-out (FIFO) memories. Each FIFO memory can be associated with a stage of the data processing system and is configured to store at least one of the tokens. The buffer management system also can include control logic configured to determine a state of one or more selected buffers and transfer the token associated with the selected buffer from a source FIFO memory to a target FIFO memory. The target FIFO memory can be selected according to the state of the selected buffer.