Rams, 49ers Rank High on Alarming List

The NFC West has produced a Super Bowl representative in seven of the past 13 seasons. This year, though, the division has produced something a little less fashionable.

With regard to dead-money hits on the 2025 salary cap, two wide receivers are accounting for some of the largest single-player figures in the league. Deebo Samuel leads the way.

According to Michael Ginnitti of Spotrac, now that the calendar has moved to June, the new Commanders wide receiver is costing an annoying $34.107 million in dead money on the books of his former team, San Francisco.

No. 5 on that list is former Super Bowl MVP Cooper Kupp, who’s costing the Rams a painful $22.26 million in dead money this season. In other words, the Rams not only had to make the difficult decision to release Cooper Kupp this offseason, they also had to watch him sign with division-rival Seattle while seeing his name next to bright red numbers on the salary cap -- just under 8 percent of the $279.2 million cap.

That Seahawks contract included a $12 million signing bonus that offset what the Rams were due to pay Kupp had he remained in Los Angeles, vice president of football and business administration Tony Pastoors confirmed in March.

Thankfully for the Rams, Kupp’s dead-cap hit will evaporate once the new league year begins after the season. That’s good because Matthew Stafford may leave, too.

"I would say it's a good problem to have,” Pastoors said in March. “Because if you've got a quarterback, you got a chance, and we've got a really good one.”

Another quarterback stands between Samuel and Kupp on Spotrac’s list of top single-player dead-money hits this year. The Giants’ Russell Wilson (still costing the Broncos $32 million this year) is No. 2 on that list.

Another Commanders acquisition, cornerback Marshon Lattimore (accounting for $31.662 million on the Saints’ cap), is No. 3. And current free agent Amari Cooper ($22.584 million against Cleveland’s cap) ranks fourth, just ahead of Kupp.

Dead money can sometimes be a dead horse, especially to the Rams. Since hiring Sean McVay as head coach, Los Angeles has selected in the first round only once in the past nine drafts (2017-25).

Trading away those first-round selections, and the dead-money ramifications with acquiring veteran stars in return, hasn’t hurt the Rams, though.  So, don’t be surprised to see them continue to release at least one big-money veteran following the season.

Be sure to follow @RamsInsideronSI and @BrockVierra on X and avoid missing breaking Rams news.

And don’t forget to visit the Facebook page here and interact with fans, share thoughts and feedback, and more.