Early June no longer means a mid-offseason update to the free agent market, as teams can designate players as post-June 1 cuts months in advance of that date. But June 2 does bring an annually important date in terms of finances. This year, 11 teams will see their cap-space figures expand thanks to post-June 1 release designations. One other club — the Broncos — used a post-June 1 designation, but they will not save any money from the historic Russell Wilson release.
Teams are permitted to designate two players as post-June 1 cuts ahead of that date. This designation spreads a player’s dead money hit over two years as opposed to a 2024-only blow. Courtesy of Spotrac, here are the savings this year’s teams to make post-June 1 designations will receive:
Arizona Cardinals
- T D.J. Humphries; 2024 cap savings: $15.95MM (story)
Baltimore Ravens
- WR Odell Beckham Jr.; 2024 cap savings: $1.2MM (story)
Buffalo Bills
- CB Tre’Davious White; 2024 cap savings: $10.2MM (story)
Dallas Cowboys
- WR Michael Gallup; 2024 cap savings: $9.5MM (story)
Denver Broncos
- QB Russell Wilson; no money saved (story)
Detroit Lions
- CB Cameron Sutton; 2024 cap savings: $10.5MM (story)
Green Bay Packers
- LB De’Vondre Campbell; 2024 cap savings: $10.5MM (story)
Las Vegas Raiders
- QB Jimmy Garoppolo; 2024 cap savings: $24MM (story)
Miami Dolphins
- CB Xavien Howard; 2024 cap savings: $18.5MM (story)
New Orleans Saints
- WR Michael Thomas; 2024 cap savings: $1.2MM (story)
- QB Jameis Winston; 2024 cap savings: $1.2MM (story)
San Francisco 49ers
- DT Arik Armstead; 2024 cap savings: $17.8MM (story)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- OLB Shaq Barrett; 2024 cap savings: $1.9MM (story)
The Broncos’ overall Wilson cap hit, even with the quarterback’s $1.21MM Steelers salary factoring into the equation, will more than double any other single-player dead money number in NFL history. The now-Sean Payton-led Broncos, after a failed effort to move Wilson’s guarantee vesting date beyond 2024, will take their medicine for bailing 18 months after authorizing a five-year, $245MM extension. Denver will absorb the lion’s share of the dead money this year, taking on $53MM. The team will not receive the cap credit from Wilson’s Steelers deal until 2025, per Spotrac.
Annually making exhaustive efforts to move under the cap, the Saints will be hit with more than $30MM in total dead cap from the Thomas and Winston contracts. Redesigning both in 2023, the Saints will take on $8.9MM in 2024 dead money on Thomas and $3.4MM on the Winston pact. Mickey Loomis‘ operation is once again at the bottom of the NFL in future cap space, being projected to come in more than $84MM over the 2025 cap.
Baltimore structured Beckham’s one-year, $15MM contract to void, and the team will take on more than $10MM in total dead money on it. The bulk of that will come in 2025; the post-June 1 cut will produce $2.8MM in 2024 dead cap this year.