NFL spring roster cleaning to create salary cap space often comes with a price beyond the loss of experience and skill. It’s called dead money, or unaccounted-for bonus figures. The shrunken 2021 cap has brought more of it to life than usual. When a player is released or traded, the former team must absorb the portion of guarantees that haven’t yet hit the cap. Dead money is not actual cash, just accounting, but it makes offseason moves more challenging. Quarterback Carson Wentz will chew up about 18% of Philadelphia’s salary cap despite a pending trade that’s sending him to Indianapolis.
