Understanding the Post-June 1 Release

A post-June 1 designation is something that allows teams to release players immediately, and gain cap space on June 2, but it’s often misunderstood, and I will go over the cap mechanics in this article.

First and foremost, the cap is widely misunderstood. The cap charge for a player is not the cash a team is spending on a player. The cap charge is based on both the cash that a team has spent on a player and expected to spend that season on a player, not necessarily what the team will.

Secondly, a signing bonus and/or option bonus is prorated over the life of the contract, even though it’s paid out in a lump sum. So, if a player has a $25 million signing bonus in year one and a $15 million option bonus in year two, he’s actually been paid $40 million in those two seasons.

For the sake of this example, let’s say the contract is a four-year deal with two void years on it and no guaranteed money beyond year two. That means the contract has four real years and two dummy years. The $25 million would be spread over the first five years of the contract on the cap charges, and the $15 million would be spread from years 2-6. That means, year one would have $5 million in proration, years 2-5 would each have $8 million, and year 6 would have $3 million.

If the player were to be released in either year 3 or 4 of the contract, the remaining bonus money would normally accelerate into the year of the release. The reason for the dead cap charge is that the team already paid the prorated bonuses, but they have yet to be counted against the cap.

A year 3 release would result in a dead cap charge of $27 million. Year 4 would be $19 million.

When June 2 rolls around, teams are only responsible for that year’s cap dollars. So, if a player is released on or after June 2 (or before with a post-June 1 designation), the team would only be responsible for that year’s cap dollars and the rest the following season.

In this example, if the player was released on the first day of the league year, he immediately becomes a free agent. Let’s say it’s year 3, and the team applies the post-June 1 designation. He’s immediately a free agent, but he’s on the books for the full dead cap charge until June 2.

On June 2, this player would then convert to a release that only counts $8 million against the cap, and the remaining $19 million would count in year 4.

Let’s use a real-life example for the Jets.

Justin Fields signed a contract for $40 million last season, with $15 million of it in a signing bonus, plus $10 million of his $20 million base salary is fully guaranteed in 2026.

Since he has $12 million in proration, he has $22 million in dead cap charges if the Jets release him in 2026. If they release him on March 11, the start of the league year, he will count $22 million against the cap. If they use the post-June 1 designation, from March 11 through June 1, his dead cap charge is $22 million. On June 2, it becomes $13 million — $10 million for the guarantee, which they will still pay him this season, and $3 million of the $12 million in proration left. The remaining $9 million in proration transfers to the 2027 cap.

Releasing Justin Fields with a post-June 1 designation doesn’t help the Jets gain any cap space for free agency.

In the end, a post-June 1 release spreads out the responsibility over two seasons, with the first season being just the first season, and the rest being accelerated into the year following the release.