Houston Texans News & Rumors

2025 NFL Dead Money, By Team

By Sam Robinson | at December 17, 2025 4:31 pm

As we head toward the playoffs, three NFL teams are carrying more than $100MM in dead money. That represents more than a third of the salary cap. The 49ers are also on track to make the playoffs with more than $100MM allocated to players no longer on their 53-man roster. Here is where the 32 teams stand for dead money (via OverTheCap) with three weeks left in the regular season:

1. New Orleans Saints: $107.83MM
2. San Francisco 49ers: $103.77MM
3. New York Jets: $102.1MM
4. Las Vegas Raiders: $87.79MM
5. Philadelphia Eagles: $87.27MM
6. Seattle Seahawks: $86.1MM
7. Jacksonville Jaguars: $85.49MM
8. Cleveland Browns: $83.22MM
9. Miami Dolphins: $72.45MM
10. Houston Texans: $66.44MM
11. Tennessee Titans: $59.42MM
12. Green Bay Packers: $57.98MM
13. Los Angeles Rams: $56.23MM
14. New England Patriots: $50.56MM
15. Denver Broncos: $42.78MM
16. Dallas Cowboys: $41.34MM
17. Detroit Lions: $40.71MM
18. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: $40.39MM
19. Los Angeles Chargers: $38.78MM
20. Baltimore Ravens: $38.38MM
21. Buffalo Bills: $37.58MM
22. Carolina Panthers: $36.55MM
23. New York Giants: $33.74MM
24. Pittsburgh Steelers: $33.7MM
25. Minnesota Vikings: $30.6MM
26. Washington Commanders: $27.29MM
27. Atlanta Falcons: $27MM
28. Cincinnati Bengals: $20.99MM
29. Kansas City Chiefs: $20.33MM
30. Indianapolis Colts: $17.37MM
31. Arizona Cardinals: $16.51MM
32. Chicago Bears: $8.6MM

The $100MM trio dwarfs last year’s leaders — the Broncos — in this unwanted area. The Saints began taking some overdue medicine for their cap-gymnastics past by trading Marshon Lattimore last year. That move coming after June 1 pushed $31.67MM onto New Orleans’ 2025 cap sheet. Derek Carr also counts $19.2MM on this year’s Saints cap, while Ryan Ramczyk‘s retirement covers more than $11MM.

The Carr punishment covers $55.88MM in total, meaning nearly $37MM from the QB’s retirement will land on New Orleans’ 2026 payroll. Mickey Loomis‘ spree of restructures on that contract created that inflated figure.

Deebo Samuel brought a receiver-record dead money total to the 49ers, who absorbed $34.12MM by trading the seventh-year veteran in March. The second leg of the post-June 1 Arik Armstead transaction from 2024 created a $15MM dead cap hit this year, with void years on Charvarius Ward‘s deal covering more than $12MM.

Gang Green took on barely $20MM combined from the Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams trades and will do the same next year, reflecting the low signing bonus figure on the Gardner extension. The Jets, though, have taken $56MM in total from the Aaron Rodgers release ($21MM this year, $35MM next). That is the second-highest total dead cap hit in NFL history.

The team that authorized the highest dead money sum in league annals — Denver, via the 2024 Russell Wilson release — is still carrying $32MM on that contract. It comes off the books next year, and the Broncos do not have any other player counting more than $3MM in dead cap on their 2025 payroll.

The Eagles and Seahawks are also moving toward the playoffs with higher dead money counts compared to the 2024 Broncos, though it should be noted the cap’s $24MM increase from last year plays into this. Philadelphia is still carrying a combined $26MM from the 2024 Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox retirements. Josh Sweat void years also comprise $16.44MM of this year’s cap. The Seahawks’ D.K. Metcalf trade brought $21MM in dead cap, while Geno Smith, Tyler Lockett and Dre’Mont Jones combine to cover more than $41MM in dead money.

Amari Cooper and Za’Darius Smith‘s 2024 Cleveland exits via trade tagged the Browns with more than $36MM in dead money together, while the Dolphins are dealing with more than $30MM combined from the post-June 1 designations on Xavien Howard and Jalen Ramsey. The latter counts $15.7MM in dead money this year and $20.9MM in 2026. That eclipses Lattimore’s defender-record total for dead cap.