June 2 has carried unusual weight in the NFL calendar for decades. Under the league's salary cap rules, bonus proration from a player's contract gets pushed to the following league year when that player is released, retired or traded after June 1. What once marked the final wave of free agency now serves a narrower but still meaningful purpose.
For years, the date functioned as a deadline of sorts. Teams would move on from players whose contracts had grown too expensive or whose performance had slipped. In some seasons, more than 20 players hit the market after June 1.
The matchup already has enough history; the job is to keep the reading list shorter than the tension.
The landscape shifted noticeably around those late-spring cuts. Most rosters were already set after the draft, and salary cap space had grown scarce. Players released at that stage often found themselves negotiating from a disadvantage. Hall of Famers Jerry Rice and Kurt Warner both experienced this reality firsthand as notable post-June casualties.
The 2006 collective bargaining agreement introduced a fix. Teams were permitted to designate up to two players per league year before June 2 as "post-June 1" releases for cap purposes, even though the actual separation happened earlier. The team still carries the full cap number until June 2, at which point the salary disappears unless it was guaranteed. The provision has persisted in every subsequent CBA, including the current agreement.
The designation does not apply to trades. When a player moves or is released, bonus proration typically leaves behind dead money—a cap charge for money already paid or guaranteed, not money still owed to the player.
Eleven Players Released With Post-June 1 Tag in 2026
Four teams exhausted both of their designations this league year: the Cleveland Browns, Green Bay Packers, Miami Dolphins and Minnesota Vikings.
Tua Tagovailoa's departure from Miami generated the most dramatic numbers. The Dolphins carried a 2026 cap number of $56,267,647 with $55 million in compensation and $55.4 million in dead money—featuring a $15 million option bonus and a fully guaranteed $39 million 2026 base salary. The move produced only $867,647 in cap savings for 2026 while creating $43.8 million in dead money for 2027. To manage the burden, Miami exercised an option for a voiding 2030 contract year before releasing Tagovailoa in March, converting a $15 million payment into $3 million annual prorations from 2026 through 2030. The alternative would have resulted in $67.4 million in dead money for 2026 alone.
The Dolphins replaced Tagovailoa with Malik Willis on a three-year, $67.5 million deal worth $45 million fully guaranteed. The combined dead money—existing charges plus the new contract—reached $99.2 million, tying the record for a single player.
Arizona attempted to trade Kyler Murray before releasing him but found no takers given his contract. The Cardinals absorbed a 2026 cap number of $51,711,466 with $46,568,966 in dead money, yielding $5,142,500 in savings while carrying $3,961,966 forward to 2027. Murray had three years and $125,234,860 remaining on his 2022 extension, including $36.8 million fully guaranteed for 2026.
Atlanta reworked Kirk Cousins' contract toward the end of the 2025 season to enable his post-June 1 release. The Falcons reduced his 2026 base salary from $35 million to $2.1 million, creating $32.9 million in immediate cap space while bumping his 2027 base salary to $67.9 million, fully guaranteed by early March.
Minnesota used Harrison Smith's one-year, $10.25 million deal for a post-June 1 designation. The contract contained bonus proration spanning 2026 through 2029, with Smith's $25 million 2027 base salary due to become guaranteed. The 37-year-old safety remains undecided about returning for a 15th season.
Bradley Chubb left Miami after recording 8.5 sacks in 2025, his first full season back from a severe right knee injury sustained late in 2023. The Dolphins' cap constraints made his departure necessary.
David Njoku's contract with the Browns was also among the designations used this league year.