Meet the biggest wastes of salary cap space
One of the most important lessons I have learned in 16 years covering the NFL is that teams don’t really care about the salary cap. They care about cash.
Cash comes out of the owner’s pocket. But the salary cap is fungible. Money can be moved around and classified so that 2+2 can equal 3, 4, or 17. Whenever a team or general manager says it doesn’t have the cap space to make a move, what they are really saying is they don’t want to pay the cash.
“You look at the salary cap, basically anybody can make anything work right now,” Patriots executive Matt Groh said last year. “You just move some things around and get creative.”
Yet more evidence of the NFL’s lack of respect for the salary cap is how inefficiently some teams have used their cap space in 2024:
■ With the main wave of free agency complete, the league average for dead cap money — money that is being used on players no longer with the team — is $24.99 million per team, or about 10 percent of the salary cap ($255.4 million). Six teams already have at least $40 million in dead cap space, led by the Vikings at $57.37 million, with more than $43 million for Kirk Cousins and Danielle Hunter alone. The Bills and Chargers are also over $50 million, while the Panthers, Packers, and Buccaneers are over $40 million. These are teams that consider themselves playoff contenders (at least in their minds), not starting over from scratch.
On the other end are six teams under $10 million in dead cap space: The Rams, Chiefs, Falcons, Bengals, Colts, and 49ers, also all contenders. The Patriots rank 18th with $21.5 million, with Devin McCourty still accounting for $6.2 million in his second season after retirement.
■ There are seven players who will carry dead salary cap numbers of at least $20 million for the 2024 season. The most eye-popping number belongs to Russell Wilson, who will count $53 million against the Broncos’ salary cap this year, an NFL record for dead cap money. The Broncos had $85 million in dead cap space to deal with when releasing Wilson last month, and opted to take the majority of it in 2024 and $32 million in 2025, instead of the other way around.
Other players with huge dead cap numbers: Stefon Diggs ($31.096 million, Bills), Cousins ($28.5 million, Vikings), Haason Reddick ($21.52 million, Eagles), J.C. Jackson ($20.833 million, Chargers), and Jamal Adams
($20.833 million, Seahawks). Aaron Donald will count $24.9 million for the Rams once he retires, but he hasn’t officially done so yet, prompting the thought that the Rams could be leaving the door open for his return.
Three other players are carrying dead cap charges of at least $20 million — Jimmy Garoppolo (Raiders), Xavien Howard (Dolphins), and D.J. Humphries
(Cardinals) — but they were designated post-June 1 releases, so, come June 2, their dead cap money will be spread over two years, but the teams have to carry the full amount until then.
■ Finally, there are a few players with hugely inefficient salary cap numbers, highlighted by Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson. He leads the NFL at a record $63.775 million in 2024, which further emphasizes the ridiculousness of the $230 million fully guaranteed contract they gave him three years ago.
Only four other players have a cap number of at least $40 million: Cowboys QB Dak Prescott ($55.133 million), Rams QB Matthew Stafford
($49.5 million), Cardinals QB Kyler Murray ($49.118 million), and Giants QB Daniel Jones ($47.855 million). After Jones is a considerable dropoff, with Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes next ($37 million) followed by Ravens QB Lamar Jackson ($32.4 million), which look like comparative steals.
Considering how easy it is to create cap space — the Bills simply turned Josh Allen’s salary into signing bonuses, gave him a $5 million raise, and still created more than $16 million in cap space this offseason — those massive cap numbers are telling. It seems the Browns, Cowboys, Rams, Cardinals, and Giants don’t have much faith in their quarterbacks remaining with the team long term, and would rather take their financial lumps now instead of kicking them down the road.
■ Wilson’s $53 million in dead cap money is the third-highest cap number this season. Also, the NFL has 29 cap numbers of at least $25 million in 2024, and Cousins accounts for two of them — $28.5 million for the Vikings and $25 million for the Falcons.