TRADES GET EASIER AS OF TODAY

by Mike Florio

It’s June 2. In past years, it was a big day on the NFL calendar.

Before 2006, teams spread the cap hit from cutting a player over two league years only by cutting him on or after June 2. As of 2006, teams gained the ability to cut up to two players each before June 2, and to process the transaction as a post-June 1 activity.

As a result, most of the players who would have been cut on and after June 1 are now cut long before then.

But June 2 now has meaning for a different reason. As of 2006, players traded on and after June 2 will have their cap hits spread over two seasons. Previously, all bonus acceleration hit the cap in the same year.

So player trades are now easier for teams to stomach, given the ability to manage the cap consequences.

Absent an extension to the current CBA, there will be no June 2 effect in 2009; all bonus acceleration for any player who is released or traded will hit the cap in 2009, since there will be no salary cap in 2010.

That was all intended as a lead-in for a PFTV segment on players who could be traded, now that June 1 has come and gone.