Jason at OTC dropped a post explaining who the June 1 designation. It’s nice, because he explains that it is not a maneuver that can help a team in UFA. It’s one that helps a team in salary cap relief, but only after June 1. They must carry the cost of the player up until June 1. Sometimes when I try to explain this to forum members, they don’t think I know what I’m talking about.
The problem with the salary cap and the salary cap rules is that the NFL reporters, especially beat writers create a lot of confusion because they don’t understand the rules themselves and they pass that confusion on to their readers. I’ve said this before, but of the Lions beat writers, Birkett seems to have the best grasp of the salary cap rules.
In order to effectively use the June 1 designation, a player must have signing bonus assigned to the next season (2024). So, the Lions have two candidates this season, Romeo Okwara and Big V.
If we outright cut Romeo Okwara at the start of the league year, we save $11M, $7.5M immediately (03/17/23) and $3.5M in 2024. If we were to June 1 Romeo, we’d save $11M on June 1 and we’d have $3.5M in dead cap in 2024.
If we outright cut Big V at the start of the league year, we save $9.5M, $6,551806 immediately (03/17/23) and $2,948,194 in 2024. If we were to June 1 Big V, we’d save $9.5M on June 1 and we’d have $2,948,194 in dead cap in 2024.
The biggest draw back to using the June 1 designation is that you don’t free up any cap space to use in UFA.
I understand but the cap savings after June 1 could if Lions want be used to extend players or rework contracts . Example they could extend Jackson an use money save on say Big V to apply on say Jacksons bonus money?
Just have to keep money of this season till June . I guess a team like Bears could use this to gain more cap since they have enough to cover all there UFA signings an keep couple players they intend to cut on roster cap till June
You are the guru. I understand that you are limited by available information, but there is a reason why we look to you for information. You are a tremendous asset to the community.
No, they didn’t use it on Flowers either and I don’t think Quinn ever used it. Mayhew might have.
This June 1 designation a one year temporary solution, the kind of cap maneuver teams up against the cap need (i.e. Saints, Packers, Eagles, Rams, etc).
Small illustration of the dynamics of the release:
Say we are going to release Romeo, say we are going to use $18M (on rookies and UFA’s) and $5M more with PS and in season injuries. Also assume we have $20M in cap space in 2023 and $30M cap space in 2024 before releasing Romeo. Below are two charts to show the Lions cap space at different junctions during the next year with an outright release or a June 1 release.
The important thing to remember is that it all washes out in the end and the cap space on 03/17/24 will be the exact same no matter if you June 1 a player or not.