NY Jets salary cap primer, part 6: The mysterious June 1

Here’s why June 1 matters for the New York Jets

If the New York Jets cut Laken Tomlinson after June 1, they can save $13 million against the salary cap. If they cut him on or before June 1, they save only $8.1 million.

How on earth does that work? Why does the date of the release make so much of a difference, and where do those numbers come from?

Today, we unpack the elusive June 1 date, how it affects releases and trades, and what it means for the salary cap.

• Part 1: Basic contract structure
• Part 2: Contract restructures
• Part 3: Trades
• Part 4: Franchise tag
• Part 5: Compensatory picks

June 1

The NFL designates June 1 as the cutoff date for all dead money on a contract to accelerate onto the current league year.

If the Jets cut Tomlinson before June 1, this is how it would affect his contract.

Tomlinson’s base salary and per-game roster bonus are not guaranteed and would therefore disappear. However, his entire prorated bonus would accelerate onto the Jets’ 2024 salary cap, meaning that $10,740,000 would become dead cap ($5,880,000 + $1,620,000 + $1,620,000 + $1,620,000). In that case, the Jets would save $18,880,000 – $10,740,000 = $8,140,000.

Post-June 1

Starting June 2, if a player is released, the dead cap charge will be split into two sections. Only the current year’s guaranteed money will count as dead money on this year’s cap. The rest of the guaranteed money will count as dead money on next year’s cap.

Again, looking at Tomlinson’s contract.

If the Jets release Tomlinson after June 1, once again, the base salary and per-game roster bonus will disappear because they are not guaranteed. In this case, only the $5,880,000 prorated bonus from 2024 will count as dead money against the Jets’ 2024 salary cap. Therefore, the Jets will save $18,880,000 – $5,880,000 = $13,000,000.

It is worth noting that despite what Over the Cap seemingly lists here, the Jets would still have $4,860,000 in 2025 dead cap left over ($1,620,000 prorated bonus × 3 for the void years from 2025-27).

Still, this is far easier for the Jets to handle than sustaining the full $10,740,000 dead cap charge in 2024.

C.J. Uzomah‘s contract is another example.

If the Jets release Uzomah, his base salary disappears regardless of when the release happens. If it’s before June 1, his entire prorated bonus, $5,921,668 total, will accelerate onto the Jets’ 2024 cap as a dead cap charge. ($3,221,668 + $900,000 + $900,000 + $900,000 = $5,921,668.) They will still save $5,300,000 ($11,221,668 cap hit – $5,921,668 dead cap charge).

If the Jets wait until after June 1 to release Uzomah, then only his $3,221,668 prorated bonus from 2024 would become dead cap in 2024. Therefore, the Jets would save $8,000,000 ($11,221,668 cap charge – $3,221,668 dead cap). The remaining $2,700,000 prorated bonus would become dead cap in 2025.

Post-June 1 designation

Before the 2006 Collective Bargaining Agreement, teams would wait until after June 1 to release players for this precise reason, creating a late second wave of free agency. This was not optimal for players, as it reduced their market of interested teams following the first wave of free agency and the draft.

Therefore, in 2006, the NFL started the post-June 1 release designation. Each season, an NFL team can release two players before June 1 and designate them as post-June 1 cuts. That way, the players get the benefit of the full free agency period to test the market.

(Note: only two players can be designated as post-June 1 releases, but any number of players can actually be released after June 1.)

However, the cutting team does not receive the cap relief until June 2. Therefore, they must carry the player’s full cap charge until June 2, which is steep. If the Jets release Tomlinson with a post-June 1 designation, they will carry his full $18,880,000 cap charge until June 2. That’s a long time to wait for cap relief.

Trades

The cap ramifications of a trade are the same as a release in terms of the cap. Before June 1, all prorated bonus money will accelerate onto the current year’s salary cap as dead money. After June 1, only this year’s prorated bonus will accelerate, while the rest of the prorated bonus will hit the cap next season.

The one difference is that there is no post-June 1 mechanism for trades. A trade must be completed after June 1 for the trading team to spread out the dead cap charge over two years. If the trade happens before June 1, all prorated bonus money will accelerate as a dead cap charge onto the current year’s cap.

Here’s how that works with John Franklin-Myers’ contract.

If the Jets were to trade Franklin-Myers before June 1, 2024, his whole prorated bonus would accelerate onto the 2024 salary cap, a total of $9,056,000 ($2,464,000 × 4 years from 2024-27). The Jets would then save $7,308,000 ($16,364,000 cap hit – $9,056,000 = $7,308,000).

If they traded him after June 1, only the $2,464,000 from 2024 would count as dead cap in 2024. That means they would save $13,900,000 in 2024 ($16,364,000 cap hit – $2,464,000). In 2025, the remaining $7,392,000 would count as dead cap ($2,464,000 × 3 years from 2025-27), but the Jets would still save $10,022,000 in 2025 ($17,414,000 cap charge – $7,392,000).

The biggest problem with waiting until June 1 would be that the Jets would be carrying both his cap hit and, presumably, Bryce Huff’s (because that’s why they would be trading Franklin-Myers). Whether Huff was under the franchise tag or an extension, that would be very difficult to carry.

We’ve now covered most of the key topics that have been confusing fans this offseason. Feel free to add your questions in the comments section and we’ll use the next miscellaneous segment to clarify.