How does the cutting of players in the NFL affect the teams cap room?

Question

is there a point in the season where you can just cut any player no matter what his salary be and not have any penalty? Jamal Lewis was just cut by the Ravens, so did they get a big penalty for that or does nothing happen, they just get to keep the money from his contract?

Answer 1

it all depends on the signing bonus. If a player signs a 5 yr deal for $25 million dollars, which includes a $5 million dollar signing bonus, then his cap hit is $5 million each season. ($4 million in base salary, and $1 million of the signing bonus is applied to each year of the deal)

If the team decides they want to cut him after the third season, then the remaining portion of the signing bonus is accelerated against the cap for that season.

So in this scenario, the player would have counted $5 million against the cap in season 1, season 2, and season 3. Then he would have $2 million left in the signing bonus that would be accelerated against the cap for that season. If he is cut before the 4th season, the $2 million left on the signing bonus is applied to the cap, but the team would save $3 million because he would have counted $5 million if he was still playing.

There are other instances where the team can elect to take a portion of the signing bonus and apply it to the cap next season, or just write off the entire thing in the current season. Either way, a signing bonus MUST be applied to a salary cap.

Roster bonuses are different. If the player has a $5 million dollar roster bonus, the team can cut him, and not have to pay the bonus, and the money is not applied to any cap.

Answer 2

Great answer by the first poster, let me add a few more details. Most contracts are back ended or have these roster bonuses, which basically guarentee the player will be cut or have to sign a new contract before his current deal ends. No contract is flat $4million every year, usually (using poster 1's example) the $20million in salary will be spread like this, $1mil, $2.5mil, $3mil, $6mil, $7.5mil. That type of deal is usually considered a 3 yr deal in reality and the players understand that. A signing bonus for a player cut before June is taken as a full hit against the current year cap, after June (not sure the exact day this year) it can be spread 50/50 over the current and next years cap. The roster bonus is a great excuse to cut a player you no longer want or don't want to resign to another big deal. Any money paid to the player via salary or bonus is not returned to the team, unless the player retires early or commits a bad offense of some kind like Ricky Williams.