In the middle of the NFL off-season, while most fans and media members alike are focused on working in the yard, checking things off the to-do list and anything but football, comes one of the more important deadlines on the NFL’s calendar.
June 1st.
Why? Because of the post-June 1st designation. Under the terms of the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), the salary cap accounting for bonuses is broken up into two periods: Pre June 1st, and post. According to OverTheCap.com, “[w]hen a player is removed from a players roster prior to June 1st all his remaining unamortized bonus money immediately accelerates onto the salary cap.”
But if you wait until after that deadline, things change.
Again, according to OverTheCap.com: “After June 1st only the current years expense remains on the books after the player is released. The balance accelerates onto the following years salary cap.”
This rule can have serious implications for both players and teams. Take, as an example, one of the players most associated with a post-June 1st move: Julio Jones. According to his contract page at OverTheCap.com, a trade of Jones prior to June 1st would cost the Atlanta Falcons $23.250 million in dead cap, and cost $200,000 against their salary cap. But if he is traded after this deadline? The franchise absorbs just $7.750 million in dead cap but also sees a cap savings of $15.3 million.
Of course, the financial implications do not just disappear into thin air. After all, as pointed out above the balance “accelerates onto the following year’s salary cap.” But with the salary cap expected to rise next season, teams are likely going to be in a better position to absorb those implication in 2022 rather than 2021.
With the ground rules in place, let’s dive into some of the potential post-June 1st trade candidates and potential destinations, moving from least-likely to most-likely.