Dead money against the salary cap is the NFL equivalent of still making payments on a totaled car. The thrill is gone, times have changed, but the agreement from more prosperous, optimistic times is still in place.
Unlike a totaled car, NFL teams can’t exactly default on the payments and just ignore calls from debt collectors. They still owe the money, and it counts against their current salary cap.
Here is a list of all 32 NFL teams’ dead money situation, including which player is collecting the most from the team’s dead money pool. Figures are according to Over the Cap.