As the NFL’s new league year draws closer, fans will begin to hear the term “dead money” mentioned when teams part ways with certain players. What is dead money in the NFL?
A team has dead money when part of their salary cap for that season goes toward a player no longer on the team. So for example, if the Broncos gave a quarterback a $2 million signing bonus on a two-year contract, that bonus would be prorated over the course of the deal.
In that kind of scenario, Denver would have $1 million salary cap hits in 2020 and 2021. If the Broncos cut that QB before the 2021 season, his prorated bonus would still count against the team’s salary cap. Denver would have $1 million in “dead money” because his bonus was still a cap hit.
This year, the Broncos have the sixth-lowest dead cap total in the NFL, just $498,486, according to OverTheCap.com. The Buccaneers ($130,241) have the lowest total and the Panthers ($15,673,834) have the highest total.
Denver’s dead money total will go up considerably if the team cuts quarterback Joe Flacco and offensive lineman Ron Leary — those two moves would increase the team’s dead money by $14,475,000.
Even though they would take a big dead money hit, cutting those players would still give the Broncos a net savings of $18,487,500 because the salaries for Flacco and Leary far outweigh their dead money totals.
In short, the Broncos’ salary cap situation is in a good place.
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