The NFL offseason has arrived, meaning teams are going to be forced into making some hard decisions with their roster ahead of free agency. These are the biggest cap casualty candidates for all 32 squads.
Arizona Cardinals
RB James Conner
$7.6M saved – $2.3M dead cap
Conner will be 32 just after the draft and has never played a full NFL season. He just missed most of 2025 with an ankle injury and carries very little in the way of dead cap for the upcoming year. On a team resigned to a rebuild, keeping Conner doesn’t make much sense.
The same can be said of Kyler Murray, though his contract is far messier to shed. He is owed $36.8M in fully guaranteed money for 2026. Another $19.5M in 2027 becomes guaranteed on March 15th. If they release him before that date, the Cardinals eat a $55 million dead cap hit and don’t gain anything in the way of immediate salary relief. There should still be enough to dream on with Murray that some team is willing to trade for him, though that is far from a guarantee.
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Atlanta Falcons
WR Darnell Mooney
$7.4M saved – $11M dead cap
Mooney’s three-year deal looked like a steal for the Falcons after one season in Atlanta. Things did not go smoothly in year two, when Mooney plummeted to 443 yards and one score at a dismal 6.2 yards per target. Atlanta could ride out his deal in hopes of a rebound, especially with Kyle Pitts potentially leaving in free agency. They could also cut him in the hopes of extending Pitts, who will be their de facto WR2.
Kirk Cousins’ contract was restructured to allow the two sides to part ways this offseason. He will likely be cut with a post-June 1st designation, causing a $22.5M dead cap hit. Because $67.9M of his deal becomes guaranteed on March 13th, a team trading for Cousins doesn’t make much sense.
Baltimore Ravens
EDGE Broderick Washington
$4M saved – $1.9M dead cap
Washington missed most of the 2025 season with an Achilles injury. He has been a valuable role-player for Baltimore since the team drafted him in 2020, but his best years—per PFF—both came on his rookie contract. His play has since declined and the cost to move on from him is minimal.
The price to cut cornerback Marlon Humphrey is far higher, with his contract carrying nearly a $19 million dead cap hit for 2026, should they release him. They would, however, gain $7.3 million in cap space by cutting a corner PFF graded as 112th out of 114 qualified players in pass coverage.
Buffalo Bills
TE Dawson Knox
$9.7M saved – $7.4M dead cap
Knox signed a rather lucrative four-year extension in 2022. He went for 517 yards in that season and has combined for 914 yards in three subsequent seasons. Knox went for fewer yards in the past three years than Kyle Pitts did in 2025 alone. The Bills took a gamble on Knox taking the next step and it hasn’t paid off. They already restructured his deal once. I suspect they part with him for good this time around.
Curtis Samuel could also be on the chopping block. The veteran wideout didn’t do much in his first season with the Bills two years ago. He then cratered to a measly seven catches in 2025. The Bills save $6.1 million in cap space by cutting him and incur a $3.5 million dead cap charge.
Carolina Panthers
EDGE Patrick Jones II
$4.8M saved – $5.4M dead cap
Jones signed a two-year, $15 million contract with the Panthers last offseason. He made it four games before a back injury knocked him out for the year. Jones was only on pace for four sacks before going down. He notched a career-high seven sacks the year before signing in Carolina.
Chicago Bears
TE Cole Kmet
$8.4M saved – $3.2M dead cap
Colston Loveland is the future of this team, but he’s also the present. Despite a slow start to the year, Loveland led the Bears in receiving yards during the regular season and ran laps around the rest of the pass-catchers in the postseason. Kmet caught more than three passes in a game once this year.
DJ Moore is another veteran pass-catcher who could be cut to get younger players on the field. Cutting Moore with a post-June 1st designation would only save the Bears a million dollars in cap space with a stunning $27.5 million dead cap charge. On the other hand, $15.5 million of Moore’s 2027 base salary becomes guaranteed on March 13th. That means keeping him this year makes it more costly to move on from him next offseason. This trigger could force Chicago’s hand in moving on from him a year early.
Cincinnati Bengals
TE Mike Gesicki
$3.3M saved – $4.3M dead cap
Gesicki earned a new contract with the Bengals last offseason after going for 665 yards on 65 grabs while stacking up big games when Tee Higgins missed time. He played in two games with Higgins out in 2025. Gesicki totaled three catches for 30 yards in those contests. Across 13 appearances, Geiscki topped 47 yards once. He was held under 40 yards nine times.
Cleveland Browns
OT Cornelius Lucas
$1.8M saved – $1.6M dead cap
Elephant in the room aside, the Browns don’t have many major cut candidates. Lucas signed with the Browns as a swing tackle and made some starts early in the year. He was a disaster, allowing 28 pressures over the first four weeks before going down with an injury.
Deshaun Watson—the aforementioned elephant—cannot be released to save cap space. Cleveland loses over $50 million in cap space if they release him before June 1st. They eat an $80.7 million dead cap charge with no cap savings if the move is designated as a post-June 1st cut. The Browns are likely stuck with Watson for one more season.
Dallas Cowboys
DT Kenny Clark
$21.5M saved – $0M dead cap
Part of the Micah Parsons trade, Clark has the 15th-highest cap hit for a defensive tackle in 2026. Pro Football Focus graded him as their No. 37 defensive lineman in his first year in Dallas. That discrepancy alone usually wouldnt warrant his release, but the Packers took on all of his guaranteed money when they traded Clark. That means it costs Dallas nothing to move on from him. Clark is still a good player, but his $21.5 million cap hit can be better spent elsewhere.
Malik Hooker is also a name to watch. He broke up one pass with no interceptions across 12 games in 2025. All three of those were low-water marks for his time in Dallas. The Cowboys can recoup $6.9 in cap space with just two million in dead cap by cutting him.
Denver Broncos
TE Evan Engram
$3.8M saved – $10.3M dead cap
The Engram signing was a complete bust from start to finish. Sean Payton inked him to a two-year, $23 millon contract last offseason. He finished the year with a measly 461 yards and one score. Enrgam averaged 1.2 yards per route run while playing a part-time role. The Broncos don’t gain a ton by cutting Engram. They also gain little by having him on the field.
Detroit Lions
OG Graham Glasgow
$5.6M saved – $2.9M dead cap
Replacing Frank Ragnow was never going to be easy, but Glasgow failed to even come close. PFF ranked him 22nd out of 44 qualified centers. He received below-average marks in run and pass protection. Detroit could always move Glasgow back to left guard, but they may choose a clean break with their once-elite offensive line in desperate need of a facelift.
Green Bay Packers
DT Rashan Gary
$11M saved – $17M dead cap
Gary is currently the 12th-highest paid EDGE by average salary. The Packers also have the highest-paid EDGE on their payroll in Micah Parsons. Gary was in the midst of his second nine-sack season in three years when he signed his current deal in October of 2023. The hope was that he would find another gear in the coming seasons. He totaled exactly 7.5 sacks in each of his next two campaigns and is now paid well above his performance.
Elgton Jenkins is an unfortunate cut candidate as well. The Packers chose to move him to center last offseason. He lobbied for a revised contract, knowing he could wind up as an overpaid center after 2025 instead of an appropriately paid left guard. Jenkins was only a serviceable center and his prediction has come true. Green Bay can save a whopping $19.5 million by cutting Jenkins.
Houston Texans
RB Joe Mixon
$8M saved – $2M dead cap
Mixon chose to undergo surgery on his foot away from the team. The issue never healed and he missed the entirety of the 2025 season. GM Nick Caserio even said after the season that they hadn’t seen Mixon in a while. Mixon will be 30 at the start of the year, missed a whole season of football, and just went AWOL on the Texans. He won’t be back with the team in 2026.
Indianapolis Colts
WR Michael Pittman
$24M saved – $5M dead cap
This one might sound a bit far-fetched, but it’s at least plausible. On an annual basis, Pittman is currently the 16th-highest-paid wideout. He played all 17 games in 2025 and finished 29th in receiving yards. He fared even worse in the fancy metrics, ranking 47th in PFF receiving grade and 49th in yards per route run. The Colts, however, do have a wideout who ranked top-20 in yards, receiving grade, and YPRR: Alec Pierce. The two play polar opposite roles, but Pierce—an impending free agent—played at a level in 2025 that warrants a Pittman-esque contract. If the Colts want to keep Pierce and Daniel Jones—also a free agent—in the fold, cutting Pittman might be the cost of doing business.
Jacksonville Jaguars
DT DaVon Hamilton
$1.9M saved – $10.6M dead cap
The Jags do not have many cut candidates. In fact, there is only one player on their entire roster whose release saves them more than $3.6 million. That is Ezra Cleveland, who isn’t much of a cut candidate. Hamilton is a run-stuffing defensive tackle who hasn’t received a top-40 run defense grade from PFF since 2022. If designated as a post-June 1st cut, Hamilton’s release would net the Jags $8.4 million in cap space.
Kansas City Chiefs
OT Jawaan Taylor
$20M saved – $7.4M dead cap
Taylor is an average pass-protector when he’s not being penalized. The bad news is that he led the league in penalties on passing plays last year while appearing in just a dozen games. Penalties have been a non-stop issue for Taylor since he joined the Chiefs, and his middle-of-the-road performance isn’t enough to offset them or his hefty contract.
Defensive end Mike Danna is another veteran who could be on the chopping block. Danna took on a starter role three years ago and broke out with 6.5 sacks. That earned him a three-year extension. He posted 3.5 sacks in the following season and one sack in 2025. The Chiefs gain $8.9 million in cap space by cutting Danna.
Las Vegas Raiders
QB Geno Smith
$8M saved – $18.5M dead cap
The Raiders don’t have to move on from Geno this year. He could be a valuable—albeit expensive—mentor to Fernando Mendoza. Even a past-his-prime Geno is also a capable backup. On the other hand, if all goes well for the Raiders under Klint Kubiak, Smith won’t see the field once in 2026. They would take on a substantial dead cap number to part ways with him, but it’s not an untenable number.
Los Angeles Chargers
RG Mekhi Becton
$2.5M saved – $9.7M dead cap
Becton rehabbed his image as a guard with the Eagles in 2024. The Chargers then took the bait by signing him to a two-year, $20 million contract. Becton reverted to his Jets form in LA and PFF graded him as the third-worst guard in the league.
The Chargers could also be looking to move on from Will Dissly. The former Seahawk is a good blocker, but his involvement in the passing game all but disappeared in 2025 with the breakout of Oronde Gadsden. LA would net $4 million in cap space with a very minor dead cap charge by cutting Dissly.
Los Angeles Rams
C Coleman Shelton
$5.5M saved – $4M dead cap
Shelton is far from a bad center. PFF graded him as a top-10 run blocker, though his track record in pass-pro is sketchy at best. LA would only cut him to clear cap space for more pressing matters. A record-setting extension for Puka Nacua comes to mind.
The same can be said of cornerback Darious Williams. LA would net $7.5 million in cap space with a negligible dead cap hit if they cut him. Williams is still a capable starter and the Rams don’t have a younger player waiting in the wings. The last time they drafted a corner on either of the first two days of the draft was 2019. Cutting Williams would, again, simply be a hard choice made to spend money elsewhere.
Miami Dolphins
QB Tua Tagovailoa
-$42.9M saved – $99.2M dead cap
Miami beat me to the punch by making the rather obvious move to cut Tyreek Hill. That saddles them with $28.2 million in dead cap but clears $22.9 million in cap space. Pass-rusher Bradley Chubb will also be released, causing a $23.8 million dead cap hit with $7.3 million in savings. These moves might clear the way for a transaction that will not create any cap space: the release of Tua Tagovailoa. Miami would lose over $11 million in cap space, even if it designates Tua as a post-June 1st release. Ripping the band-aid now, however, will save them some money in the long run. The former Miami starter was benched at the end of the 2025 season and the man behind the curtain—Mike McDaniel—was fired after Week 18. The only reason for Miami to keep Tua around is the absurd cost of cutting him. They could also try to trade him, though they would still take on a massive dead cap hit. It’s unlikely any team would pay much for him either.
Minnesota Vikings
TE T.J. Hockenson
$8.9M saved – $12.4M dead cap
Hockenson was a star when the Vikings traded for him a few years ago, but that player has seemingly vanished. His 29.2 yards per game in 2025 were a career-low. He nearly reached a career-low in yards per route run as well, with his mark of 1.28 trailing only his rookie season. Minnesota’s implosion on offense certainly played a role in his decline, and he wouldn’t be a cut candidate on most teams. The Vikings are not most teams and are currently $43.2 million over the cap. They have to make some uncomfortable choices.
New England Patriots
EDGE Anfernee Jennings
$3.9M saved – $1M dead cap
Though the Pats have some contracts on their books that might be overpays by the letter of the law, it’s hard to imagine them tinkering too much after appearing in the Super Bowl less than a month ago. Jennings is a part-time player whose numbers don’t pop off the box score. He totaled just two sacks in 2025 while setting a career low in defensive snaps.
New Orleans Saints
DT Davon Godchaux
$.4M saved – $18.2M dead cap
Per usual, the Saints are starting the offseason over the cap, though only by $8.3 million this time around. That would normally be light work for the team, but they have exactly one player who can be cut to gain more than $1.5 million in cap space. That’s Jordan Howden, who is still on his rookie deal. Moving on from Kamara only makes sense if done with a post-June 1st designation. That would create $8.5 million in cap space. Kamara has been the centerpiece of the team’s offense since being drafted all the way back in 2017. His rushing production, however, has slowly fallen by the wayside. He hasn’t averaged more than 4.2 yards per carry in a season since 2020.
New York Giants
RB Devin Singletary
$5.3M saved – $1.3M dead cap
Cam Skattebo proved to be a high-end starter for the Giants before going down with a season-ending injury. Tyrone Tracy was not a one-for-one replacement, but he is a competent backup. That leaves Singletary without much of a role despite a starter’s contract.
New York Jets
QB Justin Fields
$1M saved – $22M dead cap
First-year head coach Aaron Glenn brought a bevy of Lions staffers with him to New York and Justin Fields was the centerpiece of their offense. That dream lasted a couple of months before Fields was benched. The now journeyman passer also suffered multiple injuries. Field’s tenure in New York was a disaster on all fronts. Though the Jets don’t gain much by cutting him, they don’t stand to benefit from him being on the roster either. Both sides likely want a clean break.
Philadelphia Eagles
CB Michael Carter
$8.7M saved – $1.4M dead cap
Aside from a couple of rookie contracts, Carter is the only player on the Eagles’ roster who can be cut for more than $2 million in savings. Philly acquired Carter at the trade deadline last year. He wasn’t a difference-maker and the Eagles already have a top-flight cornerback duo of Cooper DeJean and Quinyon Mitchell. The Jets took on the bulk of his guaranteed money when they traded him to Philadelphia, making his release rather painless for the Eagles.
Pittsburgh Steelers
TE Jonnu Smith
$7M saved – $3.4M dead cap
Jonnu was an Arthur Smith passion project from day one. Even Art couldn’t make much of his move tight end in Pittsburgh. Jonnu totaled a measly 222 yards on 38 grabs in 2025. With a new regime in town, there isn’t much of a reason for the Steelers to keep Pat Freiermuth and Jonnu on the roster.
The Steelers also have a pair of big-ticket defenders who could be on the move. Jalen Ramsey is still a high-end defensive back, but the Steelers would save nearly $20 million in cap space with no dead cap by cutting him. Their splashy signing of Patrick Queen has had mixed results so far, and his release would create $13.3 million in cap space with a $3.9 million dead cap charge.
San Francisco 49ers
WR Brandon Aiyuk
It’s complicated
This move is a done deal. 49ers GM John Lynch said Aityuk has played his last snap with the team all the way back in January. Aiyuk had future guarantees in his deal voided when he failed to meet certain contractual obligations last offseason. That makes getting out of his contract easier, but not free. It also leaves some room for speculation on the exact figures what is left on his deal. I’m using Over the Cap’s breakdown of the situation. He was paid money in 2024 and 2025 that was prorated over the life of the deal for cap purposes that will need to be accounted for once he is cut. The 49ers will likely do it with a post-June 1st designation, resulting in a dead cap hit of $13.3 million in 2026, with an even larger dead cap number for 2027. His release would clear out roughly $85 million in cap space over the remainder of his contract, given that he has reportedly told the NFLPA not to contest San Francisco’s decision to void his guaranteed money.
Seattle Seahawks
K Jason Myers
$5.1M saved – $1.9M dead cap
Unsurprisingly, the Super Bowl champs don’t have many players on the roster who were net negatives compared to their salary. Myers is the glaring exception. Myers connected on 85.4 percent of his field goals, a mark that fell just below the league average. Myers is currently on a top-10 contract for a kicker. He was a fairly safe bet to be cut before the postseason, but his elite playoff run will make moving on from him a slightly harder decision. He went 8-of-8 on field goal tries in the playoffs, including a four-FG showing in the Super Bowl.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
LB Anthony Nelson
$1.9M saved – $3.5M dead cap
The Bucs don’t have many glaring cut candidates, with punter Riley Dixon—$3 million in savings with no dead cap—serving as arguably the only other easy cut. Nelson has been with the Bucs for seven seasons and has never started a majority of the games in a year. He is a solid part-time pass-rusher and a special teams contributor, but the Bucs have a handful of big-name free agents who either need re-signed or replaced. Nelson could simply be caught in the crossfire of cap maneuvers this offseaosn.
Tennessee Titans
WR Calvin Ridley
$22.3M saved – $5M dead cap
A vestige of the previous regime, Ridley will go down as one of the biggest free agent flops in a while. The Titans made a last-second offer of $92 million over four years to lure him away from Jacksonville. Ridley amassed 1,017 yards in his first season with the team, though that didn’t produce much in the way of wins. Then, in 2025, he managed just 303 yards in seven games. A hamstring issue cost him time early in the year, while a broken leg ended his season in Week 11. Ridley never appeared to be on the same page as rookie quarterback Cam Ward, and now the new coaching staff has no ties to the veteran wideout.
Signed in the same offseason as Ridley, cornerback L’Jarius Sneed could also be cut for a boatload of savings. Releasing Sneed would clear $16.4 million in cap space with just $4.1 million in dead cap. Sneed simply hasn’t been able to stay healthy in Tennessee, appearing in just 12 games over two seasons. Pro Football Focus graded him outside the top 100 corners in each of his two seasons with the Titans.
Washington Commanders
CB Marshon Lattimore
$18.5M saved – $0M dead cap
Lattimore was one of the biggest names to join Washington as part of their all-in shove to maximize Jayden Daniel’s rookie contract. Lattimore struggled in his first few games in Washington late in the 2024 season. Things went from bad to worse in 2025 and PFF graded him as their 99th cornerback in coverage. Lattimore tore his ACL in Week 9 and was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon in January. This failed experiment will come to an end in the next few weeks.
