Pride of Detroit
June 1 designations can provide teams immediate cap relief, but the Lions elected not to use the option in 2025.
It’s June 2, and that means the NFL world is discussing how NFL teams have taken advantage of their Post-June 1 designations, clearing much-needed salary cap space for their franchises. However, in 2025, the Detroit Lions chose not to utilize any June 1 designations, and they were correct in doing so. Let’s discuss why.
For those unfamiliar with the designation, OverTheCap.com offers a comprehensive explainer detailing how the Post-June 1 designation works. But the CliffsNotes version of the rules is that it allows teams to release a player (no more than two per offseason) from their contract while splitting their salary cap penalty over two seasons (instead of one), thus potentially freeing up significant salary cap room in the upcoming season.
For example lets say a player has four years remaining on his contract and $5 million in prorated charges in each of those seasons. If he was cut prior to June 1 that would lead to $20 million in dead money this year. If cut after June 1 the player would instead have just $5 million in dead money in 2023 and now $15 million in 2024. While still the same number over two seasons the team has an out rather than being stuck due to the salary cap. — Jason Fitzgerald via OverTheCap
The rule is referred to as a “June 1” designation because, to take advantage of the process, teams are required to carry the designated player's full cap hit until June 1, and the split occurs on June 2, which is when the cap relief takes effect.
Joel Corry, a former sports agent familiar with how NFL contracts and the salary cap works, wrote an article for CBS Sports discussing which teams took advantage of this rule in 2025 and why it can help them manage their salary cap.
“Fourteen players have been released during the 2025 league year with a post-June 1 designation,” Corry wrote. “Five teams, the Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns, New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers, used both of their post-June 1 designations.”
As Corry mentioned, the Ravens utilized both of their June 1 designations, releasing both kicker Justin Tucker and safety Marcus Williams, thus reducing their salary cap hits to $9 million in 2025 and pushing $10.7 million into 2026. Baltimore made these decisions because they only had roughly $8 million in salary cap space in 2025, and these moves allow them to expand that number to $18.7 million.
So why didn’t the Lions take advantage of this opportunity in 2025? There are two main reasons.
First, the Lions did not have any released players that would justify using the designation. At this time, the Lions have around $21 million in dead cap penalties, but the majority...
