Dead salary cap room is what happens when a team is still obligated to allocate a portion of its cap figure to players no longer on the team. The Cleveland Browns will pay just over $5 million in 2020 salary cap space to players who are now ex-Browns.
It’s the cost of doing business to subtract players, whether via trades or simply cutting ties with the players.
The two biggest dead cap hits come from traded players. Offensive lineman Austin Corbett and running back Duke Johnson account for over half of the dead cap, from bonuses they got as Browns and the team is obligated to count.
- Austin Corbett $1,773,962
- Duke Johnson $1,500,000
- Chris Smith $1,166,668
- Antonio Callaway $358,928
- Genard Avery $144,474
- Donnie Lewis $76,443
- David Blough $13,337
Several other players count as hits under $10,000 to raise the exact total, per Over The Cap, to $5,087,312 in dead money. That figure ranks seventh in the NFL. The Carolina Panthers carry the most dead money at $15.6 million. Tampa Bay sits with the lowest dead cap figure at just $130,412.
