The NFL’s June 1 Date is here, and the Philadelphia Eagles gain $6.42 million of salary cap space with the release of Darius Slay and James Bradberry

It’s not the official start of summer in the NFL, but June 1 is a massive date around the league and will likely play a factor in several players moving on or teams taking a risk on a considerable trade.

In NFL terminology, June 1 is the final day that teams see all future prorated money accelerate as “dead money” if a player is released. Teams like the Eagles and others around the NFL will also gain salary cap space, as any player designated for a post-June one release earlier this year will move from the active roster to the dead money side of the books.

Here are four ways the June 1 date could impact the Eagles going forward.

June 1 impact

June 1 marks the final day of the NFL calendar when a player is cut or traded; any future bonus money accelerates into the 2025 league year. Starting tomorrow, the rules allow the team to defer all that acceleration to 2025 if they release a player. June 2nd also marks when the NFL will officially process the post-June 1 designations.

Starting Thursday, June 2, any released player will only have his current season’s prorated money count against the salary cap, and the rest will be deferred to 2026.

Darius Slay

According to Over The Cap, Darius Slay will see his cap number for the Eagles drop from $13.77 million to $9.44 million this year. He will count for $13.26 million on the cap in 2026. Slay signed a 1 year, $10 million contract with Pittsburgh following his release.

James Bradberry

Philadelphia released Bradberry before the start of free agency, and according to Over the Cap, his salary cap number drops from $4.86 million to $2.76 million, with $7.75 million in dead money hitting the books in 2026.

Brandon Graham

Graham is retiring after 15 NFL seasons, but leaves the Eagles with a cap hit of $4.55 million this year and $4.44 million in 2026.

Trade time

Lots of trades happen after the June 1 date, and a player to watch could be Eagles pass rusher Bryce Huff, who could use a change of scenery.

Had the Eagles cut Huff before June 1, they’d have a dead cap hit of $28,849,412 on their books and a cap loss of $21,438,559. A trade would get Philadelphia $12,099,412 in dead cap space and a cap loss of $4,688,559.

UPDATE:

Philadelphia is indeed finalizing a deal that’ll send Huff to San Francisco for a mid-round pick. The agreement should be officially announced in the coming days.

What is dead cap money in the NFL?

Dead money, which is also known as “dead cap space” or simply “dead cap.”

Dead money is a salary cap charge for a player no longer on a team’s roster. Typically, it stems from guaranteed money already given to a player in the form of signing bonuses who is either released, traded or retires. In the event that the team and player part ways before the end of the contract, whether it’s via a release, trade, or retirement, the remaining prorated bonus accelerates onto the team’s current salary cap. That creates the dead money charge, which ensures the total value of the contract paid by the team matches the overall cap charges the player accrued while with the organization.

According to Over The Cap, Philadelphia will carry $55,531,930 in dead money.

Jason Kelce -$16,438,000Josh Sweat -$16,438,000Fletcher Cox -$10,100,000Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, Jr. -$4,620,000Mekhi Becton -$3,484,706Devin White- $2,193,412Zack Baun -$1,900,000Dylan McMahon -$139,575TOTAL- $55,531,930