March 3, 2026, 11:20 p.m. MT

The big NFL news on Tuesday was that the Arizona Cardinals will part ways with quarterback Kyler Murray, releasing him when the new league starts on March 11. They were unable to pull off a trade, and they want to avoid the $17 million roster bonus he is due on March 15, which triggers $19.5 million in salary guarantees in 2027.

The move is costly. Murray has $36.8 million in guarantees in 2026, and the Cardinals must pay him that, even though he won’t be on the roster. The only relief the Cardinals will get is when he signs for the league minimum ($1.3 million) with another team. They will pay him $35.5 million and his new team will pay the rest.

The Cardinals will get some relief with the salary cap, but it won’t be much and it won’t come for a while.

Why not?

Salary cap implications for Cardinals

While it wasn’t reported exactly as such, the Cardinals will release Murray as a post-June 1 designation. We know this because of the fact he can’t be released until the new league year begins and the Cardinals will absorb most of the cap hit in 2026.

Need a news break? Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!

If it were a standard release, Murray could be cut now. If it were a standard release, the Cardinals would have to absorb all the cap hit in 2026.

So what does a post-June 1 designation mean?

Well, because of bonuses paid to Murray that had a deferred cap impact and because of this year’s salary guarantees, the Cardinals must take on roughly $54.7 million in cap charges. His contract currently counts $52.6 million. A straight release would make the cap hit in 2026 $54.7 million, subtracting about $2 million from their current cap space.

Designating him a post-June 1 release, it allows the Cardinals to spread the cap charge over two seasons. Doing it this way, the cap charge will be about $47.5 million in dead money, which would create about $5.1 million in cap space for this year. The remaining $7.2 million in dead money would count against the 2027 cap.

However, by designating him a post-June 1 release, they must carry the original cap charge until June 2 to get the cap relief, as if he had been carried on the roster until then. It gives the player the ability to sign elsewhere and it gives the previous team cap relief.

Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.