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Roster building is not easy in the NFL. General Managers have to hand out pretty pennies to ensure that the best players sign contracts to play for their teams. Unfortunately, huge paydays don't always work out for NFL organizations. This was evident with the Daniel Jones contract, as he became a massive failure with the New York Giants after signing a four-year, $160 million contract extension with the team in 2023. The Giants needed Jones to become a franchise signal-caller, but instead, his struggles forced the Giants to release him, and now they are stuck with a huge dead salary cap hit.
Dead money is something you don't want in the NFL. That term is used to describe when a team is paying a player, due to guarantees in his contract, who is no longer even playing for that team. Jones, for example, had $92 million in guarantees in his contract, but he was released in only the second year of that four-year deal, so the Giants will have to pay him a lot of money to just not suit up with the team.
A move that results in a big dead cap hit is a massive mistake, and it can financially set a team back for years. Dead hits make it hard to stay under the salary cap and sign other free-agent players. In this article, we are going to look at the biggest dead salary cap hits in NFL history to see where Daniel Jones lines up with some of the other atrocious contracts we've seen before.
1. Russell Wilson, Denver Broncos ($85 million)
The Denver Broncos shocked the world in 2022 and made one of the biggest trades ever when they plucked Russell Wilson away from the Seattle Seahawks. It took a massive haul of picks and players to make a deal happen, but Denver was thrilled to get a signal-caller who had played in two Super Bowls and even won the championship game over them back in 2014.
The optimism was misguided, though, because the trade ended up becoming one of the worst deals in NFL history. Even worse, the Broncos gave Wilson a contract extension before he even suited up with the team, and that deal definitely became the worst in league history. Wilson had two years remaining on his previous deal, but the Broncos thought Wilson would be their long-term starter, so they gave him a five-year, $245 million contract extension.
It was one of the biggest deals in league history, but the quarterback ended up being a shell of himself once he hit the field. The scrambling and creativity that made Wilson special in Seattle was gone, Wilson's iconic deep ball was worse, and the quarterback looked lost in a new system. Broncos fans and the organization were quickly ready to move on as the quarterback's skill set seemed unsalvageable.
Denver benched Wilson before he even finished his second season with the team, and he was soon thereafter released by the team despite the Broncos' huge financial obligation to him. Most of the deals on this list only required a team to have dead money for one season, but Wilson still had multiple years of guarantees on his contract. The Broncos owed $53 million in dead money in just 2024 before the dead cap hit in 2025 becomes $32 million.
At the time, that made just one year of Wilson's dead cap hit the most expensive ever (until Daniel Jones' release), in addition to Wilson's release being over double the most expensive in dead money ever at the time that the Broncos gave up on him. Ironically, Wilson has seemingly turned things around to a degree this season. Although he was the backup for the Pittsburgh Steelers at the start of the season, Wilson has looked improved since taking over the lead gig behind center in Pittsburgh, and he has the Steelers at 8-3 on the season.
2. Daniel Jones, New York Giants ($69.3 million)
The newest member to this list, Daniel Jones' Nov. 22, 2024, release means that he now ranks second for the most dead money ever. Jones still had nearly $70 million in guarantees on a contract that he didn't even get halfway through before being benched. While most fans expected Wilson to work out in Denver when the Broncos first traded for him, Jones' struggles were almost predictable.
The Duke product was drafted sixth overall in 2019, but he never found his footing in the NFL. The quarterback struggled from day one and never showed many signs of improvement, so the Giants' decision to give him long-term job security seemed weird in 2023. Jones' failures were highlighted by a six-game stretch in 2023 after signing his new deal where he threw only two touchdowns to six interceptions before suffering a season-ending injury as well as a 672-day touchdown drought at the Giants home field: MetLife Stadium.
To make matters worse, the Giants prioritize paying Jones over fan-favorite running back Saquon Barkley. The move followed a recent trend of not paying ball carriers, but it bit the team in the butt. Not only was the Jones experiment a massive failure, but Barkley has been arguably the best running back in the league this season for the Philadelphia Eagles, a team that just so happens to play in the same division as the Giants.
3. Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons ($40.5 million)
The two quarterbacks above Matt Ryan on this list were pretty bad for the entire duration of their time with the team that ended up having a huge dead cap hit because of them. That wasn't the case for the long-time Atlanta Falcons gunslinger, as Ryan is one of the best players in Falcons franchise history.
Ryan played 14 years for the Falcons, but Atlanta eventually became ready to move in a new direction. They traded Ryan to the Indianapolis Colts ahead of his age-37 season, and they took on a dead cap hit of over $40 million in the process. It was clear that Ryan was past his prime by this point. He only lasted one season in Indianapolis before retiring, and his year with the Colts was the worst statistical season of his career.
4. Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers ($40.3 million)
Aaron Rodgers is one of the best players in NFL history. Things haven't necessarily gone according to plan for him and the New York Jets since the team traded for him from the Green Bay Packers. While the Packers did take a $40.3 million dead cap hit by moving on from Rodgers, they were able to hand the reins to Jordan Love.
The former first-rounder from Nevada has proven himself as the Packers quarterback of the future. Meanwhile, Rodgers' first season with the Jets ended after only four snaps, as he tore his Achilles. While a bounce-back was expected, the quarterback and his team have been among the biggest disappointments in the NFL during the 2024 season.
5. Carson Wentz, Philadelphia Eagles ($33.8 million)
The start of Carson Wentz's career was promising. The Philadelphia Eagles drafted him second overall in 2016, and he showed off killer arm strength from day one. Wentz was even in the running for the MVP award during a good chunk of the 2017-18 season. That season saw the quarterback suffer a season-ending injury, though, and a different quarterback (Nick Foles) ended up leading the Eagles to Super Bowl glory.
Injury woes continued to be an issue for Wentz going forward, and the Eagles traded the quarterback to the Indianapolis Colts in 2021. Because of a massive signing bonus that was spread out over multiple years, the Eagles suffered a dead cap hit of $33.8 million. Wentz has never been able to replicate his early career success, and he is now a backup on the Kansas City Chiefs. Meanwhile, the Eagles are one of the best teams in the league with Jalen Hurts quarterbacking the team. Wentz does have a chance to win another Super Bowl ring, though, considering the Chiefs have won each of the last two championships.
6. Stefon Diggs, Buffalo Bills ($31 million)
Lost in the 2024 offseason that saw Russell Wilson set the record for dead money, Stefon Diggs also broke a dead cap record. The Buffalo Bills traded the receiver to the Houston Texans, and in the process, they incurred a $31 million dead hit. That is the most dead money for a non-quarterback ever.
Buffalo's move was a cash-saving deal but not a cap-saving one, as they suffered dead money on their cap because they traded Diggs before June 1. After the trade, the Texans ended up removing the final three years off of Diggs' contract, which he signed in 2022 for $96 million over four years.
Although the Bills moved on from Diggs, it wasn't for a lack of production. Diggs is one of the best receivers in the league, and he was having a great season for the Texans on a receiving corps that was one of the best in the league. Unfortunately, Diggs tore his ACL in Week 8 and is out for the rest of the season, which is unideal timing, considering the receiver is now set to hit the open market this upcoming offseason.
7. Russell Wilson, Seattle Seahawks ($26 million)
As stated above, Russell Wilson has had an impressive NFL career. However, heavily investing in him during the later part of his career has proven to be a bad idea. Wilson is the only player to rank multiple times inside the top 10 all-time for the biggest dead cap hits ever.
While his dead number after leaving the Broncos was jaw-dropping, it was also pretty high when he was traded from the Seattle Seahawks to the Broncos. As a part of the historic trade that left the Seahawks with $26 million in dead cap, Seattle added Noah Fant, Drew Lock, Shelby Harris, two first-round picks, a second-round pick, and a fifth-round pick.
8. Julio Jones, Atlanta Falcons ($23.2 million)
Our second receiver on this list, Julio Jones, is another long-time Atlanta Falcon who had a legendary career with that team before it ended with the Falcons eating a lot of dead money. We already talked about the dead cap associated with Matt Ryan, but it was Jones who was Ryan's favorite target.
Jones ranks first in franchise history in receiving yards (12,896) and receptions (848), but the team traded him to the Tennessee Titans in 2021 after his career started to look like it would be ending soon.
9. DeAndre Hopkins, Arizona Cardinals ($22.6 million)
DeAndre Hopkins is one of the best receivers of the 21st century, and he has always thrived regardless of who is throwing him the football, but he has jumped around from team to team (and quarterback to quarterback quite a bit. Hopkins is most known for his Houston Texans tenure, but he had a decent run with the Arizona Cardinals, too.
However, Hopkins' Arizona tenure included suspensions and injuries, and the team decided to release the receiver in 2023. That resulted in a $22.6 million dead hit. Hopkins has since played for the Titans and is now on the Kansas City Chiefs after being traded ahead of the 2024 NFL trade deadline.
10. Jared Goff, Los Angeles Rams ($22.2 million)
There were a lot of factors that went into the Jared Goff-Matthew Stafford trade. The Los Angeles Rams had previously drafted Goff first overall, and he even led them to a Super Bowl appearance. Los Angeles ended up trading him for another former first-overall pick in Stafford, but they took a big dead salary cap hit in the process.
The price to pay was worth it, as Stafford did what Goff couldn't, and he won the Super Bowl with the Rams. Since then, though, Goff has been the leader of a Detroit Lions team that has been one of the scariest in the NFL.
