Worst NFL Contracts Still on the Books in 2026 start with a simple sound every fan recognizes. Silence at the end of free agency when your team needs a guard, and nothing happens. In that moment, coaches talk about competition, but the front office knows the real reason. The salary cap is not tight because the roster lacks ambition. It is tight because someone cashed in years ago, and the accounting never stopped.
Hours later, the same team announces a bargain signing and calls it a “fit.” At the time, that is not strategy. It is survival. Money that could have bought a starting corner is already parked in dead money. Cash that could have stabilized the offensive line is locked into a future cap hit that hits like a punch.
So the question in 2026 is not who spent. The question is who can still move.
The cap math that turns optimism into a cage
Bad contracts rarely begin as bad ideas. Before long, they become bad options. Three forces keep creating the worst NFL contracts still on the books in 2026.
One, the cap hit swells into a number that forces sacrifices at other positions. A team can survive one star cap spike. It struggles when multiple starters need extensions in the same year.
Two, the exit cost becomes uglier than the problem. Cutting or trading the player does not free the money. It just relocates the pain, and the dead money number blocks the next move.
Three, the structure hides a trap door. A roster bonus triggers. A guarantee vests. A decision date lands in March, right when teams want to shop. Despite the pressure, the contract demands action before the draft can even fix the holes.
Contract databases like Spotrac and cap analysts at Over the Cap show these patterns every year. Because of this loss, the list below ranks the deals that most aggressively restrict roster flexibility in the 2026 league year, either through massive cap concentration, brutal release math, or trigger timing that corners a team.
The contracts that keep winning against the teams that signed them
Some of these players can still play. Others do not have to. In that moment, the cap does not care. It charges the same way.
So each entry below does three things. It pins the contract to one defining moment where the bill shows up. It drops one clean data point from widely used cap databases. It explains the precedent, the cautionary tale, the reputation hit that comes with being the deal everyone cites in negotiations.
10. Jawaan Taylor, Kansas City Chiefs
Flags change games faster than any blitz. Across the court of Sunday emotion, nothing feels more helpless than a big third down erased by a hold. Kansas City paid for stability at tackle, and the cap number demands calm.
Spotrac lists Taylor’s 2026 cap hit at $27,391,667. That is premium tackle money, the kind that should buy clean pockets and quiet Sundays. Yet still, the cultural sting comes from how penalties amplify the cost. A tackle contract is not supposed to create new ways to lose.
Years passed, and teams started treating tackles like quarterbacks, paying early and paying big. This deal sits as a reminder that the position only pays off when the chaos stops.
9. Brandon Aiyuk, San Francisco 49ers
The twist here is simple. The player is not the anchor. The divorce is.
Spotrac lists Aiyuk with a 2026 cap hit of $15,390,281, which looks almost reasonable for a top receiver in this market. Suddenly, the problem moves to the exit math. That same Spotrac data shows a 2026 dead cap figure around $29.6 million in an outright separation scenario, a number that can erase a free agency plan in one line item.
At the time, teams loved extensions that created a clean short term cap hit. In that moment, the league learns the risk: even a “cheap” star can become expensive the second the relationship breaks. That precedent matters, because agents will fight harder for guarantee protection, and teams will fight harder for conduct language.
8. Bradley Chubb, Miami Dolphins
Edge rushers get paid because pressure travels. Yet still, the cap punishes you when the rush does not arrive often enough to justify the bill.
Spotrac lists Chubb’s 2026 cap hit at $31,202,739 with a dead cap figure over $23.8 million. That is the type of number that changes how you build the secondary. It also narrows what you can do at guard, tight end, and interior defensive line.
Because of this loss, the deal becomes a warning about paying for a role when the roster already carries other top heavy charges. In that moment, one expensive defender can turn into two missing starters elsewhere.
7. Derek Carr, New Orleans Saints
Retirement does not retire the cap. It just shifts the conversation from “starter” to “invoice.”
Over the Cap’s breakdown of Carr’s contract mechanics lays out how retirement can still produce a heavy 2026 cap consequence, including a $36.674 million dead money hit depending on how the transaction is processed. Before long, a team discovers it can lose the quarterback and still keep paying the quarterback.
At the time, New Orleans leaned on restructures and bonus conversions to stay competitive. That reputation now cuts both ways. It signals boldness. It also signals delayed pain.
This deal becomes a cautionary tale for every franchise that keeps treating future years like free storage.
6. Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals
Quarterback contracts are supposed to buy certainty. The risk here is not only the number. It is the cost of changing your mind.
ESPN reporting, citing Spotrac’s release and trade scenarios, has laid out the harsh 2026 math: a pre June 1 release can carry a dead cap hit around $57.8 million, while a post June 1 designation spreads it with roughly $50.6 million in 2026 and $7.2 million in 2027. Trading the player can look cleaner on paper, but the timing and market still dictate reality.
In that moment, the contract teaches a brutal lesson. A team can decide it wants a new quarterback. The cap can decide it cannot afford one.
The precedent is clear. Modern quarterback deals do not just pay the player. They restrict the timeline of the franchise.
5. Tyreek Hill, Miami Dolphins
Every roster has one number that makes people stop talking. For Miami, this is one of them.
Spotrac lists Hill with a 2026 cap hit of $51,898,750, the highest among wide receivers for that season. At the time, teams accepted large receiver cap hits because the position kept exploding in value. Suddenly, the tradeoff shows up in the trenches. A team carrying a cap hit north of fifty at receiver needs bargains at tackle, linebacker, and corner.
Because of this loss, the deal becomes a blueprint for how contenders get squeezed. The star can still create highlights. The cap hit still demands that the rest of the roster stay cheap.
That is the quiet cruelty of the worst NFL contracts still on the books in 2026. Great players can be real. The math can still be worse.
4. Tua Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins
The scariest contracts are not always the biggest cap hits. The scariest contracts are the ones you cannot exit without setting the roster on fire.
Spotrac lists Tagovailoa with a 2026 cap hit of $56,400,000. Over the Cap’s analysis has also highlighted how catastrophic a clean release can become in this structure, with dead money totals that can approach $99.2 million depending on timing and treatment. That number does not just hurt. It freezes a team.
In that moment, the contract stops being a football argument and becomes an organizational trap. Coaching changes do not solve it. A new general manager cannot wish it away. The money is already committed.
Years passed, and quarterback guarantees grew more aggressive. This is what the league fears. A deal that forces patience even when patience feels impossible.
3. Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys
Dallas does not do small numbers at quarterback. The bill for that philosophy lands in 2026.
Spotrac lists Prescott with a 2026 cap hit of $74,068,430 and a dead cap value of $129,989,996. That dead money number matters, because it changes the entire leverage map. A team can talk tough. The cap does not negotiate.
In that moment, a cap hit in the mid seventies turns a roster into a balancing act. One veteran safety becomes unaffordable. One defensive tackle depth signing becomes a minimum contract gamble. A contender starts living on draft picks and prayer.
This deal becomes a precedent for how the modern quarterback market can squeeze even the most valuable brands in the league.
2. Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens
A cap hit this large forces a franchise to either rework the structure or accept a season built on thin margins.
Spotrac lists Jackson’s 2026 cap hit at $74,500,000. That number alone can reshape an offseason. It pushes hard decisions into January. It also shifts pressure onto the rest of the roster, because the quarterback has to be more than great. He has to be perfect often enough to cover for the compromises.
At the time, Baltimore built a clear identity around Jackson’s style and gravity. In that moment, the identity becomes expensive in a way that forces choices at tackle, corner, and edge.
The reputation angle is real. Teams will point to this contract when they talk about cap concentration at quarterback. Agents will point to it when they talk about market reality. Nobody will call it small.
1. Deshaun Watson, Cleveland Browns
This is the contract that never lets the franchise breathe. That is why it sits at the top of the worst NFL contracts still on the books in 2026.
Spotrac lists Watson with a 2026 cap hit of $80,716,514, the highest quarterback cap hit for that season. The size is not the only issue. The structure also makes escape painfully expensive, which is why the deal keeps showing up in every conversation about guarantees, leverage, and risk.
In that moment, the contract becomes the Browns’ first opponent. It dictates what they can add. It dictates what they must cut. It dictates how patient they have to act, even when the locker room wants urgency.
Years passed, and front offices started fearing fully guaranteed quarterback money for one reason. This is what the downside looks like when the cap hit becomes the headline.
The next contract wave will try to build escape hatches
The worst NFL contracts still on the books in 2026 will not end the era of megadeals. Stars will still get paid. Quarterbacks will still reset the market. Before long, another team will convince itself it can outsmart the timeline.
Still, the structure will evolve. Expect more early trigger dates that both sides spell out in plain terms. Expect more rolling guarantees tied to March decision points. Expect more offsets, more injury protections, and more language that tries to define what “available” means.
Because of this loss, teams will also keep leaning on void years and bonus conversions, not because they love them, but because they need them. Those tools can create short term room. They can also create long term cliffs. The NFLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement provides the framework, but the creativity happens inside it, and creativity can turn toxic when the bill arrives.
So the lingering question in 2026 is not whether the cap is rising. It is rising. The question is whether roster building can survive a world where eighty million cap hits become normal at quarterback, and fifty million cap hits become normal at receiver.
In that moment, fans will keep asking why the depth looks thin in December. The answer will keep living in the same place. The worst NFL contracts still on the books in 2026 are not just numbers. They are missing players, missing options, and missing seasons that never get a second chance.
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FAQs
Q1. What does “dead money” mean in the NFL? Dead money is cap space charged for a player who is gone. It comes from bonuses and guarantees that still count.
Q2. Why do bad contracts hurt more in March? March is when guarantees vest and roster bonuses trigger. A team has to decide fast, even before the draft can fix holes.
Q3. What is a Post June 1 cut? It lets teams split some dead money across two years. It can soften the first hit, but it does not erase the bill.
Q4. Can teams escape huge quarterback deals quickly? Not easily. The dead money can be so big that the cap blocks a clean reset.
Q5. Do restructures solve cap problems? They create short term room. They also push pain forward, and the future year can hit harder.
I’m a sports and pop culture junkie who loves the buzz of a big match and the comfort of a great story on screen. When I’m not chasing highlights and hot takes, I’m planning the next trip, hunting for underrated films or debating the best clutch moments with anyone who will listen.
