The June 1 cuts used to be a real thing. There were players who would remain on a team's roster until June 1 and then be released because the rules said a team could split up the remaining dead money salary cap hit on a now-released player over multiple seasons and not just take the hit all in the season upcoming.

That changed a few years ago when everyone realized it was pretty unfair for a player who everyone knew would be cut to be chained to a roster -- unable to find a new team -- for weeks just because of the cap rules. So it was adjusted. Now, a "June 1" cut can be released long before June 1, although a team can still designate that player a "June 1 cut," again allowing it to spread out the cap hit into the future.

The caveat? A team, even if the player was cut, still has to carry that player's full cap hit until the beginning of June, and only then does it get the benefit.

That brings us to the Cardinals and Jordan Phillips, who was cut March 16 after a disappointing free-agent tenure with the team. Phillips was named a June 1 cut, which means the Cardinals finally will clear some extra space. Phillips had been scheduled to be a cap hit of $13.3 million originally this season. That has shrunk to $3.3 million now that the calendar has moved to June, gaining the Cards an extra $10M of cap space going into the month. (Phillips will be a dead cap hit of $5.9M in 2023, according to overthecap.com.)

As for the "June 1" cuts? Because of the rule tweak, there is no longer this wave of veterans suddenly being cut. Most teams have done that earlier in the offseason.