Jan. 26, 2026, 2:54 p.m. ET
There are 10 former Jacksonville Jaguars players who are no longer on the team, but will restrict their salary cap spending in 2026.
So how is this happening?
Well, there are very few teams that will have more dead cap on the 2026 salary cap books than the Jaguars.
Dead cap is money that still counts against a team’s salary cap, even if that player is no longer on the team.
Dead money is dollars that have been paid to a player but haven’t yet been accounted for against the salary cap.
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A signing bonus, for example, is paid out to a player right away, but for cap purposes, those charges are spread out over the life of the deal. So if a player ends up elsewhere rather than finishing out the contract, the cap charges from the signing bonus still have to count towards the salary cap — they don’t just disappear.
Last offseason, with GM James Gladstone taking control, there was a heavy amount of roster turnover. This meant getting out of a number of contracts that were still in force, hence the heavy dead cap hits this season.
CB Tyson Campbell: $19.5MWR Gabe Davis: $14.6MS Darnell Savage: $6.2MIDL Khalen Saunders: $1.86MOL Javon Foster: $398,532IDL Jordan Jefferson: $391,538RB Tank Bigsby: $230,530IDL Tyler Lacy: $171,780CB Deantre Prince: $166,114RB Keilan Robinson: $140,978
Overall, the Jaguars are projected to be $21.99 million over the 2026 salary cap, according to Over the Cap. Only five teams have less cap space.
Now, there are ways to create more room. The Jaguars unused cap space from 2025 will rollover. In addition to that, veteran cuts, extensions, and contract restructures can help create more room.
The good news is that by absorbing these dead cap hits in 2026, the Jaguars will have a lot of added salary cap flexibility in 2027.