The Business Of June 1 For The Eagles

The calendar has turned to June, and that’s always an important day in the business world of the NFL, a demarcation line allowing teams to essentially shift the burden of “mistakes” over two seasons.

The significance of the date was always going to be there for the Eagles because GM Howie Roseman used his two post-June 1 designations on salary cap-casualty veteran defensive backs Darius Slay and James Bradberry.

By doing so, the Eagles received $4.32 in salary-cap relief for Slay and $2.1 for Bradberry. However, Philadelphia had to carry Slay and Bradberry on its salary cap through May 31, so while the savings were baked in the bookkeeping, the space wasn't available to the Eagles until the calendar turned.

Another misunderstood part of the equation is the offseason top-51 rule, in which only the top 51 salary-cap figures count when it comes to being cap compliant in the offseason.

You’ll likely hear that the Eagles generated $6.42 million in cap space by releasing the veterans. They did, but Slay and Bradberry are now replaced by defensive tackle Moro Ojomo (with a cap figure of $1,049,446) and receiver/returner Ainias Smith ($1,043,574) in the top 51, meaning the effective cap savings are around $4.32M for those moved when factoring in the players replacing them.

The trade of disappointing edge defender Bryce Huff to San Francisco is also expected to be finalized, where the Eagles are essentially paying Huff $9.05 million to play for the 49ers in exchange for a mid-round pick and about $2.4M in cap savings.

The dead-money hit for Huff failing as a big-money, free-agent acquisition last year will be $4.94 million in 2025, with a $16.6 million can kicked down the road to 2026. 

The Eagles are one of 11 NFL teams gaining cap space thanks to post-June 1 designated moves, according to OverTheCap.com.