Dead money is salary cap space charged to a team for a player who is no longer on its roster. It exists because of a timing mismatch: signing bonuses are paid in cash immediately but spread across up to five years for cap accounting – and when a player is cut or traded, all of that remaining proration accelerates onto the current cap at once. The money was already spent; the cap just hadn’t admitted it yet.
The scale can be franchise-altering. When Denver released Russell Wilson, the Broncos absorbed roughly $85 million in dead money across 2024 and 2025 – the largest dead-cap charge in league history, and for one season more cap space than some teams spent on their entire starting offense. Every restructure, void year, and guaranteed dollar a team hands out today is a potential dead-money bill later.
The chart below covers where dead money comes from, how the June 1 rule softens it, and the record cases. Take a look, then we’ll get into how teams think about eating it.
NFL SALARY CAP
What Is Dead Money in the NFL?
Cap space spent on players no longer on the roster – and how it gets there
WHAT IT IS
Cap, no player
Charges for departed players
THE RECORD
$85M
Russell Wilson, Broncos
PRORATION
5 years
Max bonus spread
THE ESCAPE
June 1
Splits the hit over two years
Where dead money comes from
The accounting behind the pain
| Mechanism |
How it creates dead money |
| Signing bonus proration |
A signing bonus is paid up front but spread evenly over the contract for cap purposes (max 5 years). Cut or trade the player, and every remaining prorated chunk accelerates onto the current cap at once |
| Guaranteed salary |
Base salary that was guaranteed still counts against the cap when the player is released – the club owes the money either way |
| Void years |
Fake contract years added purely to spread bonus proration. When the deal voids, all the proration parked in those years lands as dead money on that season’s cap |
| Trades |
The old team keeps all remaining bonus proration as dead money; the new team takes on only the salary |
| Restructures |
Converting salary to bonus lowers today’s cap hit but stacks future proration – every restructure is a dead-money IOU |
The June 1 rule
Why so many releases happen on paper in March but on the cap in June
| Timing |
Cap treatment |
| Release before June 1 |
ALL remaining proration accelerates onto the current year’s cap – one big hit now |
| Release after June 1 (or with a June 1 designation) |
Only the current year’s proration counts now; the rest lands next year. Teams get two such designations per offseason |
| The catch |
A June 1 designation delays the cap savings too – the freed-up room doesn’t arrive until June 2, after most of free agency is over |
| The record |
Denver released Russell Wilson in 2024 and carried $85M in dead money across 2024-25 – roughly $53M and $32M – the largest dead-cap charge in NFL history |
DEAD MONEY FACTS
It’s cash already paid
Dead money usually isn’t new spending – it’s the cap catching up to bonus cash the player banked years ago. The ledger hurts; the wallet already did.
Every team carries some
Cutting late-round picks and failed free agents leaves small charges league-wide; the difference between contenders and cap-crunched teams is the size, not the existence.
Void years moved the problem
The modern cap trick – Saints- and Eagles-style void years – doesn’t eliminate dead money, it schedules it. The bill always arrives; teams just choose the year.
When Eating the Money Makes Sense
Front offices talk about dead money the way accountants talk about sunk costs – because that’s what it is. The cash left the building when the bonus was paid; the only real question is whether the roster spot and the remaining salary are worth more than the cap acceleration. That’s why teams increasingly rip the bandage off: taking one painful year of dead cap to escape a bad contract often beats paying real salary to a declining player just to keep the ledger tidy. The discipline failure isn’t carrying dead money – it’s the restructure spiral that creates it, borrowing cap space year after year until the only exit is an $80 million admission that the deal never worked.
The Bottom Line
Dead money is accelerated bonus proration and guaranteed salary hitting the cap after a player is gone – softened only by the June 1 rule that splits the charge across two seasons. It’s the price of the NFL’s pay-now, count-later bonus system, and the reason cap health is really contract-structure health. For the tool that avoids long-term guarantees entirely, see the franchise tag; for the release rules on the player side, vested veteran status.
