Accounting for players who appear on teams’ cap sheets but not on their rosters, dead money is a factor for all 32 teams. This year, dead money comprises more than 20% of five teams’ payrolls. Two teams who followed through (successfully) with all-in missions in recent years — the Buccaneers and Rams — each have more than 30% of their payrolls devoted to dead-cap hits.
Going into training camp, here is how dead money factors into each team’s cap sheet:
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers: $75.32MM
- Los Angeles Rams: $74.23MM
- Green Bay Packers: $57.14MM
- Philadelphia Eagles: $54.73MM
- Carolina Panthers: $51.54MM
- Arizona Cardinals: $36.96MM
- Tennessee Titans: $36.56MM
- Minnesota Vikings: $35.54MM
- Houston Texans: $31.72MM
- Las Vegas Raiders: $29.95MM
- Indianapolis Colts: $24.89MM
- New Orleans Saints: $24.58MM
- Chicago Bears: $23.52MM
- Washington Commanders: $23.01MM
- New York Giants: $22.74MM
- New England Patriots: $21.82MM
- Atlanta Falcons: $18.78MM
- Detroit Lions: $18.69MM
- Seattle Seahawks: $17.91MM
- San Francisco 49ers: $17.16MM
- Cleveland Browns: $16MM
- Dallas Cowboys: $14.64MM
- Pittsburgh Steelers: $13.26MM
- Baltimore Ravens: $10.78MM
- Denver Broncos: $9.72MM
- Miami Dolphins: $8.43MM
- New York Jets: $7.95MM
- Kansas City Chiefs: $7.65MM
- Buffalo Bills: $5.23MM
- Jacksonville Jaguars: $4.7MM
- Los Angeles Chargers: $2.19MM
- Cincinnati Bengals: $593K
No team broke the Falcons’ record for dead money devoted to a single player. The Falcons’ Matt Ryan trade left them with $40.52MM last year. But the Bucs and Rams incurred some dead money collectively this offseason.
Tom Brady‘s Tampa Bay exit created much of the Bucs’ issue here. Brady not signing another Bucs deal, instead retiring for a second time, accelerated $35.1MM in dead money onto the Bucs’ 2023 cap sheet. The team had used void years increasingly during Brady’s tenure, and his second restructure created the $35.1MM figure. The Bucs will swallow the post-Brady pill this year, with no dead money related to that contract on their books in 2024.
Three ex-Rams combine to take up $55MM of their dead-money haul. The Rams traded Allen Robinson to the Steelers earlier this year, but that three-year, $46.5MM deal Los Angeles authorized in 2022 will result in Robinson’s former team carrying a $21.5MM dead-money hit in 2023. The Rams are eating $19.6MM of Jalen Ramsey‘s contract, and bailing on Leonard Floyd‘s four-year, $64MM extension after two seasons moved $19MM in dead money to L.A.’s 2023 payroll. The Rams did not use the post-June 1 designation to release Floyd, keeping the dead money on that deal tied to 2023 only.
The Packers did come close to breaking the Falcons’ record for dead money on a single contract. Green Bay following through on the Aaron Rodgers trade left $40.31MM in dead money on this year’s Packers cap. Because the Packers traded Rodgers before June 1, that hit will be entirely absorbed this year. It also took a Rodgers restructure on his way out to move the cap damage down to $40MM. The Panthers trading Christian McCaffrey after June 1 last year left the second chunk of dead money ($18.35MM) to be carried on this year’s cap. It also cost Carolina $14.63MM in dead cap to trade D.J. Moore to the Bears.
The Bears used both their post-June 1 cut designations last year (Tarik Cohen, Danny Trevathan) and also have a $13.23MM Robert Quinn cap hold. The Cardinals had already used their two allotted post-June 1 cut designations this offseason. As result, DeAndre Hopkins is on Arizona’s books at $21.1MM this year. Because they cut the All-Pro wide receiver before June 1, the Cards will be free of Hopkins obligations after this year.
While the Raiders built in the escape hatch in Derek Carr‘s 2022 extension, keeping the dead money on their nine-year QB’s contract low, Cory Littleton — a 2022 post-June 1 cut — still counts nearly $10MM on their cap sheet. Fellow 2022 post-June 1 release Julio Jones still counts more than $8MM on the Titans’ payroll. The Cowboys went to the post-June 1 well with Ezekiel Elliott this year, but their 2022 designation (La’el Collins) leads the way with $8.2MM on this year’s Dallas payroll.
topping the list, teams that went all out for deep playoff runs.. and Carolina
Basically TB sold out for 2 division titles & a SB for, what appears to be a difficult season, and will be loaded with cap space next year. That’s good work by their GM.
Bet those Green Bay stockholders are loving the Packers F.O. about now.
Many of them, along with many non stockholder fans like me, were already less than thrilled with their performance before seeing just how much dead money they’re sitting on.
It’s probably not going to be a whole lot better next year, if they part ways with Bahktiari (and a couple others) as some are predicting.
Nearly $800M of dead money. That’s enough to roster up 3.5 teams.
Forgive my ignorance, but isn’t dead cap just a mechanism for teams to not have to use all their salary cap space on players? If so, why would the players Union agree to this scheme? That’s a lot of money ownership is pocketing instead of paying out in salaries.
Dead cap is actual money paid out to players at some point in the past. If a player has guarantees whether signing or roster bonuses or salary and is then cut, there is an accounting charge against the team’s cap. That is what is meant by dead cap space, in that it can’t be used for new salaries.
Plus, if a team is strapped with a ton of dead money and can’t sign players, you won’t be getting the attendance to make more money either.
Trust me, the players who deserve the money will get their money. it just will be with a different team.
Unless you cancelled your Rams/Bucs season tickets already, they have your money. More revenue comes from broadcast deals than ticket sales. Dead Cap issues are usually only severe for one season, but repeated cuts trades and use of the post June 1 which allows a team to spread over 2 years can change that. Looking ahead to 2024 Browns $13.6M, Dolphins $10M Cardinals $8.3M Cowboys $6M, Pats $6.2M are the top 5 dead cap teams. They could hold flat or add to that.
In regards to the Packers, they had their chances for a SB run and it just didn’t work out for them. Although, their big cap hit wasn’t for going all-in but for resetting and looking to the future. While the cap hit handcuffs them for this season, it’s Love’s first year and honestly nobody is expecting anything from him or the team for that matter. So, why not take that big cap hit this year?
Because it wasn’t necessary. They willingly offered a ridiculous contract extension to Rodgers when everyone knew they were trying to move on from him, and Rodgers likely was ready to move on as well…LAST YEAR.
It’s as if they couldn’t use the $40 mil to extend a couple or 3 of their core guys, sign 1 or 2 legitimate contributors at various positions, or use it to rework any of the other contracts that still have massive dead cap hits in the next couple years. Instead they’ll probably lose $20+ mil on Bak alone next off-season, and I believe Preston Smith and Aaron Jones will be sent packing, with rather large dead cap hits as well.
Cincy is in great shape, one of the reasons they contend.
Cincy is in great shape, one of the reasons they contend..