It is June 2. The Arizona Cardinals suddenly have a lot more space under the salary cap.
Why?
It is because finally the contract of tackle D.J. Humphries, who was released in March, has come off the books.
Humphries was scheduled to count $22.9 million against the cap this year. He tore his ACL at the end of the season and was not going to be able to play for almost all, if any, of the 2024 season. Arizona released him with two years remaining on his deal.
With a normal release, the remaining bonus proration that had not yet been counted against the salary cap would have accelerated all to 2023. The Cardinals would have saved about $9 million in cap space but would have carried a $13.8 million dead money charge to the cap.
Instead, they released Humphries with a post-June 1 designation, meaning the dead money could be split over two years. As a result, they carried the $22.9 million cap charge for his contract through June 1. Now, they gain nearly $16 million in cap space and carry a dead money charge of $6.9 million in 2024 and again in 2025.
According to Over the Cap as of June 2, the Cardinals have the fourth-most cap space in the league with $35.5 million.
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