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Other Notable, Non-A.J. Brown Trades To Watch For Post-June 1
Jun 1, 2026Logan UlrichNFL Trade Rumors
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Today is an important date on the NFL calendar. Without going too far into the weeds on the salary cap, league accounting and all that nerdy jazz, June 1 is important because after that date, teams are allowed to defer consequences and make roster moves they otherwise couldn’t. There’s a very prominent and practical example this year with the Eagles and WR A.J. Brown , who’s been the subject of what feels like endless trade speculation since last fall. Normally when a player is cut or traded, all of the remaining dead money on their contract moves up to the current year. After June 1, teams are only responsible for the dead money in the current season with the rest hitting the books the following year. In Brown’s case, trading him before June 1 would have resulted in a $43 million dead money charge — $20 million more than his current cap hit for Philadelphia. Put another way, the Eagles would have lost $20 million in cap space by trading Brown. But after June 1, the Eagles are only on the hook for $16 million in dead money this year and the rest in 2027, saving them $7 million in cap space. That’s why the expectation for weeks and weeks has been that the Eagles will finalize a Brown trade sometime this month, with the Patriots far and away the leading contender to win the sweepstakes for the star wideout. It might not happen right away as the two sides haggle over compensation, but barring some kind of dramatic plot twist, Brown is going to be a Patriot this fall. That’s not the only big-time trade to watch out for, however. After June 1, there are a handful of other high-profile trades that could become much more realistic thanks to the salary cap implications. There’s not the same immediate time peg as there is with a Brown trade, so some of these situations might not develop until later in the summer or even during the regular season before the trade deadline. There’s plenty of smoke, though. And where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire. Here are three situations to monitor for trade buzz blazing up in the coming months. Browns DE Myles Garrett Something fishy is going on in Cleveland. The Browns will swear up and down that they’re not trading Garrett, that the plan is for him to be a Brown for life. They held firm last year when he demanded a trade and the two sides instead reached a massive, $40 million per year extension that kept him in town. But actions always speak louder than words, and the actions from the two parties this year undercut the party line out of the Browns’ building. Consider: The Browns moved back the due date for Garrett’s option bonuses from March to September Garrett has not met new HC Todd Monken in person yet Option bonuses have become popular in the last decade or so, with teams like the Eagles and Browns relying on them heavily. They essentially are a way to pre-restructure a contract and give clubs more flexibility with how they handle the salary cap. A team has the “option” to pay the player a bonus, with a deadline written into the contract for when a decision has to be made one way or the other. An option bonus is treated like a signing bonus for salary cap purposes, spread out over the remainder of the deal up to five years. Unlike signing bonuses, however, the money is not actually due to the player until after the option is exercised. If a team trades a player before exercising his option, the new team inherits responsibility for the payment. If a deal is done after the option is paid out, it sta…