NFL teams have several ways to clean up their salary caps ahead of free agency and the start of the new league year, but cutting players is typically the cleanest. Releasing veterans can often leave clubs with an ominous-sounding result: dead money.
What is an NFL dead cap hit, and how do they affect team-building and roster construction around the league?
What Is an NFL Dead Cap Hit?
Dead money refers to salary cap space allocated to a player no longer on a team’s roster. A dead cap hit is a specific cap charge tied to a player who has since been traded, released, or retired.
Most often, dead money results from signing bonus money “accelerating” onto a club’s salary cap.
When a team signs a player and gives him a signing bonus, that bonus money can be prorated over five years or the life of the contract — whichever is shorter.
For example, imagine the Atlanta Falcons sign QB Kirk Cousins this offseason, handing him a four-year contract with a $80 million signing bonus. The Falcons would account for that signing bonus with $20 million charges in 2024, 2025, 2026, and 2027.
Now assume Atlanta releases Cousins two years into his deal, after the 2025 season. The rest of his prorated signing bonus money — $40 million, in this case — would immediately accelerate onto its salary cap in 2025.
That $40 million would be Cousins’ 2025 dead cap hit. He would no longer be on the Falcons’ roster, but they’d still feel the long-term effects of inking the veteran signal-caller.
If a player retires, his dead money is typically the same as if he’d been released. The same goes for traded players unless a guaranteed salary is involved. In that case, the acquiring club takes on the player’s salary, leaving only prorated bonus money on the former team’s cap.
It’s important to remember that the NFL salary cap is simply an accounting system. Teams can always move money around, but every dollar paid out must be accounted for sooner or later.
NFL clubs can manipulate money when releasing players, as well. Post-June 1 cuts allow organizations to spread dead money over two seasons, creating some financial breathing room in the near term.
NFL Dead Cap Hit Records
The Denver Broncos will absorb $85 million in dead money over the next two seasons once they officially release quarterback Russell Wilson at the start of the 2024 league year.
However, Denver will likely use a post-June 1 designation when it releases Wilson. While the nine-time Pro Bowler will immediately depart the Broncos’ roster, the club can spread his dead money over the next two years: $35.4 million in 2024 and $49.6 million in 2025.
Wilson’s 2025 dead cap hit will be the largest in NFL history, eclipsing the $40.53 million the Falcons absorbed when they traded Matt Ryan to the Indianapolis Colts in 2022.
Here are the five biggest cap hits in league history:
1) Russell Wilson, Denver Broncos
2025 Dead Money: $49.6 million
2) Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons
2022 Dead Money: $40.5 million
3) Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers
2023 Dead Money: $40.3 million
4) Russell Wilson, Denver Broncos
2024 Dead Money: $35.4 million
5) Carson Wentz, Philadelphia Eagles
2021 Dead Money: $33.8 million
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