June 1 marks the final day of the NFL calendar where any future bonus money accelerates into the 2024 league year if a player is cut or traded. Starting tomorrow the rules now allow the team to defer all of that acceleration to 2025 if they move on from a player. June 2nd also marks the day when the NFL will officially process the post June 1 designations. I am going to process them a day early so we can go over who gained what cap room.
Raiders Gain $24M with Release of Jimmy Garoppolo
The Raiders were given a gift when Garoppolo was hit with a PED violation that voided the guarantees in his contract, allowing the Raiders to move on without owing him an extra $11.25 million. The team will split his $17.1 million in dead money as $4.26 million in 2024 and $12.8 million in 2025. The Raiders are now near the top of the NFL in 2024 cap space.
Dolphins Gain $18.5M with Release of Xavien Howard
The Dolphins committed a cardinal sin of getting walked into a 3rd contract even though Howard had multiple years remaining on his prior deal and wound up with a big salary cap mess in the process. Howard has $23.1 million in dead money which will be split as $7.5 million this year and $15.7 million next year. His release becoming official was needed by Miami who has next to no cap room remaining for 2024.
49ers Gain $18M with Release of Arik Armstead
The 49ers reportedly tried to negotiate a pay cut to keep Armstead on the team but he opted to test free agency and sign with the Jaguars instead. This was a contract that got away from the 49ers due to restructures leaving them with $25.9 million in dead money to account for. They will split the dead money as $10.3 million in 2024 and $15.6 million in 2025. Armstead’s release opens up just over $18 million giving the team plenty of cap room to work with for extensions or more likely to carry over to 2025 when their position is near the bottom of the NFL.
Cardinals Gain $16M with Release of DJ Humphries
Humphries completed just one year of a three year extension before being released following an ACL injury that occurred at the end of the 2023 season. He has a total of $13.8 million in dead money that will be split equally between 2024 and 2025. Humphries should be injury protection eligible which will allow him to make a claim for about $2 million in salary of which $1.23 million would count on the 2024 salary cap. If claimed this will be in addition to the current $6.9 million in dead money.
Packers Gain $10.6M with Release of D’Vondre Campbell
Campbell completed just two years of a five year $50 million contract before his release. He has $11.6 million in dead money that has to be accounted for of which $3.66 million will count in 2024. Campbell signed a one year deal worth $5 million with the 49ers.
Lions Gain $10.5M* with Release of Cameron Sutton
I put an asterisk on this one because I am not 100% certain of the outcome here. Sutton had a salary guarantee for 2024 which was likely voided when he had a warrant issued for his arrest, but these can sometimes be grey areas that wind up in some kind of grievance hearing. If no guarantee remains then Sutton will count for $2.18 million on the cap this year and the Lions gain $10.5 million. If the guarantee sticks he will count for $12.68 million this year and the Lions gain nothing. In both cases he will count $6.54 million in 2025.
Bills Gain $10.2M with Release of Tre’Davious White
White’s release was due to a combination of the Bills salary cap issues and White’s injuries. White did land on his feet with the Rams and if healthy should earn back what he would have earned with the Bills. White had just under $10.4 million in dead money remaining on his contract and the team will split that as $6.2 million this year and $4.21 million in 2025. Buffalo is in a difficult salary cap position as the salary cap gained here will basically just give them breathing room for the entire season. They are 2nd in the NFL with $61 million in dead money.
Cowboys Gain $9.5M with Release of Michael Gallup
This was a contract signing Dallas would likely want back if they could re-do things as Gallup never got back on track after agreeing to come back to Dallas in 2022. Gallup had $13 million in dead money left on his deal. Dallas will take on $4.35 million this year and $8.7 million in 2025. The release will move the Cowboys to about $13 million under the cap for this year with multiple extensions on the horizon. Gallup is currently on a one year $1.75 million contract in Las Vegas.
Saints Gain $2.4M with Release of Jameis Winston and Michael Thomas
Both of these were planned cuts with the team and player aggreging to contract structures that would allow them to defer massive amounts of dead money to 2025. For Thomas the team deferred $9.18 million to 2025 while for Winston it was $7.36 million. The Saints only have $6 million in cap room so this was the only way to absorb the released. The two will combine for about $14.6 million in dead money in 2024. Winston is currently on the Browns on a one year, $4 million contract.
Buccaneers Gain $1.9M with Release of Shaquil Barrett
Barrett’s contract became a salary cap mess due to yearly restructures for cap relief that pushed $26.7 million of his $51 million earned since 2021 into the dead money ledger for 2024. The Bucs will carry $9.27 million in dead money this year and $17.4 million in 2025. Barrett signed a one year, $7 million contract with the Dolphins earlier this year. The Bucs have around $10 million in cap room remaining for 2024.
Ravens Gain $1.2M with Release of Odell Beckham
This was certainly the worst one year contract in the history of the Ravens organization and arguably their worst signing they ever made, doing a one year $15 million contract with incentives for a player who was out of the NFL. This contract was designed to be a June 1 cut to avoid $11.068 million in cap charges all hitting in 2024. The Ravens will take on $2.77 million in 2024 and $8.3 million next year. Beckham is on the Dolphins for $3 million in 2025.
Broncos Gain $0 with Release of Russell Wilson
The Broncos made the difficult decision to move on from Wilson despite a record setting amount of dead money- $85 million in total- and a guaranteed salary of $39 million, deciding to take the pain now rather than making it worse for 2025. Denver takes on $53 million in dead money this season and will defer $32 million to 2025. To put the $53 million in perspective, only two other NFL teams have more than $53 million in dead money for their entire roster this year. Denver gains no cap space in 2024 with the release. The only consolation prize for Denver is that they will receive a $1.2 million salary cap credit in 2025, which is the offset for how much the Steelers are paying Wilson to be their starting QB in 2024.
Other Expected Moves
These are not yet official, but I would expect them to occur in a few days. The Rams should place Aaron Donald on the retired list to free up $1.2 million in cap room. Donald will count for $23.8 million in 2024 cap charges and $9.67 million in 2025 cap charges once the retirement is official.
The Eagles have two players to put on the retired list- Fletcher Cox and Jason Kelce. Cox will count for $4.2 million this year and $10.3 million in 2025. Kelce’s 2024 cap number will be $8.678 million for 2024 and $16.438 million for 2025. The likelihood of the players not being on the Eagles roster in 2024 was taken into consideration last year and both contracts were designed for a June 1 type move so the team will only gain $2.7 million in 2024.
