Should The NFL Ban Contract Void Years?

One of the buzzworthy topics around the NFL this offseason is the usage of void years to legally circumvent the salary cap. Owners willing to provide bundles of up-front cash are awarding their general managers an advantage when roster building. It's led to some league-wide outcry, and amendments could eventually arrive to ban dummy years and provide a more level playing field.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has recently discussed “looking into” the integrity of the salary cap. Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated recently addressed the situation in his latest mailbag. There’s an excellent example provided of how to skirt the salary cap.

A free-agent addition that averages an annual salary of $20 million per campaign could cost as little as $8 million against the salary cap in the first year if structured correctly. Bloated up-front signing bonuses play a huge role. With sizable cap charges scheduled for the back-end of a long-term deal, that's when teams begin restructuring the numbers via dummy years.

The Philadelphia Eagles have taken terrific advantage of this strategy in recent offseasons. They entered their Super Bowl LIX matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs with a staggering $54.4 million in dead money, compared to the Chiefs’ $10.6 million, according to CBS Sports' Joel Corry. Former center Jason Kelce leads the Eagles in dead money charges heading into 2025 ($16.4 million), and he retired before last season.

The Eagles have become notorious for structuring contracts with signing bonuses and option bonuses that prorate throughout the life of the contract, leading to manageable cap numbers in the initial year. Adding numerous dummy/void years acts as a nefarious way to circumvent the cap. With Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie willing to provide actual cash flow up front, it's given Philadelphia an advantage over cash-poor teams with owners unwilling to match that aggressiveness.

Naturally, the Eagles won Super Bowl LIX by a score of 40-22. It’s impossible to say their methods to skirt the salary cap didn’t play a sizable role in their success. 

General manager Howie Roseman benefited from building the most competitive roster imaginable. Lurie provided him with the cash flow necessary to acquire or retain multiple superstars on long-term contracts with manageable cap charges. The Eagles had multiple players who were the highest-paid at their respective positions last season, yet only one of them had a 2024 cap number above $15 million.

The drawback is that the cap numbers eventually experience a sizable increase due to proration. That becomes difficult to manage if a player is traded or released, or retires in the middle of a backloaded contract containing dummy/bonus years. That's precisely what happened in Kelce's case.

Roseman’s squad currently places fourth in dead money ($55.5 million) heading into 2025, per Over The Cap. The San Francisco 49ers, who operate similarly, rank first ($81.3 million). They’re scheduled to rank second and third, respectively, in the same department in 2026. The Eagles or 49ers have represented the NFC in three straight Super Bowls, and in five of the last eight iterations.

Ideally, the salary cap intends to level the playing field between all 32 franchises. With just a handful of owners willing to travel to great lengths to legally circumvent the cap, desired league-wide parity is no longer present. That's precisely why Goodell and the league are contemplating action to protect integrity, and contending owners would likely support their mission.

Some may side with the Eagles and 49ers, arguing they're technically doing nothing legally incorrect. Morals aren't always considered when trying to win a competitive sport. They're among the small handful of organizations willing to exploit a loophole in the current salary cap structure. The league should strongly consider making amendments to the CBA's language to prevent such continued activity.