Big Cat Country
The Jaguars will get some short-term salary cap relief this weekend following a contract move with Gabe Davis.
The Jacksonville Jaguars are among a handful of NFL teams that will receive a significant bump in salary cap space this weekend as the league turns the page from June 1 to June 2. The Jaguars released receiver Gabe Davis in May with a post-June 1 designation, and the 2025 salary cap space created from that move becomes available on June 2.
The post-June 1 designation is a mechanism in play for NFL teams to use in order to release a player in March, April, or May in a move that simultaneously benefits the player and the team. Once June 2 hits, dead-money cap hits are spread over two seasons instead of accelerated into the current season. Instead of holding on to a player for months you already know you’re going to cut, you release them in March and apply the cap advantage in June.
Players get to sign when there are roster spots and lots of cash available from other teams. Teams don’t have to pay roster bonuses or option bonuses or worry about that player getting hurt and kicking in an injury guarantee.
White’s existing cap hit was set to be just under $6.5 million in 2025, and that’s what has been sitting on the books since the league year opened in March.
If Davis had just been released normally, his cap hit would balloon to $20 million and suck up most of the Jags’ remaining cap space.
With the post-June 1 release, his cap number is going to go down slightly to $5.7 million for the 2025 season and the rest of the $20 million will be pushed into the future. The remaining $14.6 million will be accounted for on the 2026 salary cap.
Every dollar paid to a player eventually is counted on the cap. This is just a way to delay it.
(It needs to be noted that Davis likely had salary offsets in his contract, so Jacksonville will get back cash and cap space equal to whatever contract Davis signs for the 2025 season. Assuming he eventually signs somewhere.)
The Jaguars add less than a million in cap space and the credit card bill comes due a year from now. They already have $27 million in cap space in 2025 (that they can roll over for 2026), so this shouldn’t change anything about their signing practices currently. Don’t expect a signing just because some cap space is available.
