Tag: June 1

Here’s how much salary cap space the Saints will save after June 1

The New Orleans Saints designed Michael Thomas and Jameis Winston as post-June 1 cuts. Here’s how much that will save them against the salary cap:

Early this offseason, the New Orleans Saints designed Michael Thomas and Jameis Winston as post-June 1 cuts, which is a mechanism that allows teams to release up to players (making them free agents) while spreading out the salary cap costs over this year and the next. The catch is that those savings won’t be felt until after June 1, and they’ll be offset by  other players taking Thomas and Winston’s place on the accounting books.

So with that date rapidly approaching, here’s how much those moves will save the Saints against the salary cap. Winston, who signed with the Cleveland Browns early in free agency, will still count against the cap by $3.38 million in 2024 and $7.3 million in 2025. Because his cap charge to this point has been $4.59 million, the Saints will receive a cap credit of $1.21 million on June 2.

They’ll receive the same savings for Thomas; until now, his 2024 cap hit has been $12.4 million. It’ll drop to $8.9 million for the rest of this season while leaving behind a $11.1 million dead money charge in 2025. Like a dozen other players from last year’s Saints team, he has yet to sign with a new squad.

So think of it this way. The Saints are going to receive a combined $2.42 million in salary cap savings this weekend while carrying about $18.4 million in dead money on the books in 2025 for both Thomas and Winston. That sounds like a lot, but with the 2025 salary cap projected to reach at least $260 million we’re talking about 7% of the cap, at most, going to two players no longer on the team.

What about this year? Right now, the Saints are sitting under the cap by roughly $5.7 million after signing all but one of their draft picks (second-round cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry, whose net cost to sign will ultimately be about $550,000). They’ll be in the clear by more than $5 million after getting these cap credits for Thomas and Winston, so it’s possible the Saints could make a trade or sign some more free agents before training camp with those extra resources. They could also choose to sit on that money and roll it over to help clear the 2025 salary cap, which would be responsible, but it’s more fun to speculate about new additions over the summer.

Update: The Saints signed McKinstry to his rookie contract, though the exact salary cap hit is yet to be reported. And as observed by Locked On Saints host Ross Jackson, the Saints didn’t save much against the cap on June 2. That’s because salary cap hits for Shane Lemieux ($1,055,000) and Jordan Howden ($996,682) took Thomas and Winston’s place on the top 51 contracts, offsetting the savings for a net gain of only about $368,318. OTC estimates the Saints to be under the cap by $5,473,316.

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The NFL’s June 1 Date and four ways it will impact the Eagles

We’re looking at the NFL’s June 1 Date and the ways it will impact the Philadelphia Eagles

It’s not the official start of summer in the NFL, but June 1 is a huge date around the league and will likely play a factor in several players moving on, or teams taking a risk on a huge trade.

In NFL terminology, June 1 is the final day that teams see all future prorated money accelerate as “dead money” if a player is released.

Starting Thursday, June 2, any player who is released will only have his current season’s prorated money count against the salary cap and the rest will be deferred to 2024.

Teams like the Eagles and others around the NFL will also pick up salary cap space as any player designated a post-June 1 release earlier this year will move from the active roster to the dead money side of the books.

Here are four ways the June 1 date will and could impact the Eagles going forward.

The NFL’s June 1 Date and four ways it will impact the Eagles

The NFL’s June 1 Date and the ways it will impact the Philadelphia Eagles

It’s not the official start of summer in the NFL, but June 1 is a huge date around the league and will likely play a factor in several players moving on, or teams taking a risk on a huge trade.

In NFL terminology, June 1 is the final day that teams see all future prorated money accelerate as “dead money” if a player is released.

Starting Thursday, June 2, any player who is released will only have his current season’s prorated money count against the salary cap and the rest will be deferred to 2023.

Teams like the Eagles and others around the NFL will also pick up salary cap space as any player designated a post-June 1 release earlier this year will move from the active roster to the dead money side of the books.

Here are four ways the June 1 date will and could impact the Eagles going forward.

Seahawks ranked as long-shots to land Packers QB Aaron Rodgers

Here’s why the Seattle Seahawks are ranked as long-shots by the USA TODAY to land Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers in a possible trade.

A number of NFL starting quarterbacks have been the source of this offseason’s drama, including long-time Packers signal-caller, Aaron Rodgers, whose future in Green Bay remains uncertain.

Unlike Seahawks quarterback, Russell Wilson, Rodgers does not have a no-trade clause in his current contract, and now that we’ve reached the all-important June 1 milestone, it’s time to take a look at potential landing spots for Rodgers should Green Bay ultimately decide to deal.

Nate Davis of USA TODAY ranked all 31 teams not named the Packers as possible destinations and the Seahawks came in as a long-shot at No. 17 overall.

“Wilson also seems to be part of an unwinding football marriage, though he’s probably destined for at least one more year in the Emerald City,” Davis writes. “But even if the Seahawks could put together the framework of a Wilson-for-Rodgers scenario – and the cap ramifications alone aren’t insignificant – Wilson has the power to put the kibosh on it. And though Wilson played at the University of Wisconsin in 2011, Green Bay doesn’t seem all that conducive to his entrepreneurial aspirations or his wife’s musical career.”

Davis’ No. 1 spot for Rodgers in his list? The Denver Broncos.

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NCAA allows resumption of voluntary team activities in Division I football and basketball

The USA TODAY is reporting that the NCAA will allow for the resumption of team activities in three sports starting June 1. Find out more —

The USA TODAY is reporting that the NCAA Division I council has voted to let football, men’s basketball, and women’s basketball players to resume voluntary on-campus workouts beginning June 1.

This lifts a prohibition that has been in place since March that led to the cancellation of the several conference basketball tournaments, the annual NCAA Basketball Tournament and every other scheduled competition for the NCAA’s spring calendar.

What’s interesting about this is that not only will it vary state-to-state, but things will also vary in different parts of the same state.

First off, Notre Dame will be allowed to open up for athletes in those three sports to perform on-campus workouts.  Just an hours drive to the west though, things aren’t expected to be open in Illinois as the “Land of Lincoln” remains under much stronger regulations than their neighbors to the east.

Virginia for example has different regulations in place for counties surrounding Washington, DC while the rest of the state is given a different set of rules for the time being.

What it all means is that what NCAA President Mark Emmert shared a few weeks back in that a uniformed start to college football isn’t likely as some teams will get a start June 1 while plenty of others will not.

There is a long road to go but if you’re hoping for college football to be played mostly as scheduled this fall, this is a huge step in the right direction.