NFL Cut Candidates at June 1 Deadline Won’t See Chargers Very Active

There's a key NFL cuts deadline coming up. But don't look for the Chargers to be making headlines.

Scott Matlock | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Chargers aren’t hurting for cap space. 

Just look at the recent signing of David Njoku. Or, the Chargers doing another Derwin James deal, which reset the safety market yet again. 

The Chargers also don’t have many in the way of real cut candidates right now after doing so much roster churn for the third offseason in a row of the Jim Harbaugh era. 

Alas, it’s always good to brush up on the rules with the annual June 1 deadline approaching that changes how cap hits impact teams when making roster moves. 

NFL Cuts June 1 deadline impact on Chargers

Jim Harbaugh | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

NFL fans often hear about post-June 1 designations on roster cuts. 

Long story short, a post-June 1 designation lets teams manipulate when guaranteed signing bonuses actually impact the cap. Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer recently provided an example of a team that signed a player to a $60 million deal with a $20 million signing bonus, but wanted to cut the player after one year. 

“If the team cut Utah before June 1, all of that would hit the team’s cap immediately,” Breer wrote. “But if the team waits until after June 1, then it would have the option of taking the current year charge ($5 million) immediately, and pushing the rest ($10 million) off to the following year.”

So…about the Chargers. 

Combing the list of Over the Cap, there aren’t many in the way of post-June 1 cuts that stick out. None of the names with big cap savings via the designation, such as superb veteran cornerback Donte Jackson ($6 million in savings) are in any sort of danger. 

One notable exception resides in the edge-rusher room, though: 

• Bud Dupree ($2.49 million in savings)

If someone like guard Kayode Awosika loses a competition over the summer, there’s $1.6 million in savings or so. But that’s what the Chargers are dealing with ahead of the June 1 deadline. 

How did the Chargers get here? They already moved on from obvious cut candidates or didn’t bring back the likes of Najee Harris, Mekhi Becton, Will Dissly and Andre James, to name a few. 

Meaning, that’s a testament to how the Chargers front office does contracts, really. They’re so far ahead on the cap via contract structures that they don’t usually need to wait around for June 1 or rely on the designations to make moves. 

Sometimes, boring is good. The Chargers? Pretty good example of that this time of year.

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