We've had a few people wonder what players might be available with the June 1st cuts this season. The first decade or so of the NFL salary cap included in it a clause that allowed teams to cut players on (or after) June 1st and spread the remaining allocation of the signing bonus over two seasons.
So, if a player had $5 million remaining in signing bonus money to be paid, teams could cut them on June 1st and spread that allocation out over two seasons instead of one.
This caused a few problems in that players who were sure to be cut on the June 1st deadline date still had to attend the OTAs and mini-camps during the month of May and risk injury. If a player was injured for the season during this period then their base salary would become immediately guaranteed. This resulted in the team having to keep an injured player they were going to cut on their roster anyway. It created an awkward situation for not only the team, who was going to cut the player, but also for the player, who was on a team only because of injury.
This led to certain teams effectively blocking players from attending these practices to avoid the risk of injury while they either A) tried to work out a trade or B) were waiting for June 1st to cut them.
The 2006 Collective Bargaining Agreement tweaked this rule so that you could cut two players before June 1st and process them as a post-June 1st transaction. This put players on the market earlier and avoided the awkward situations. The NFLPA likely pushed for this rule because it got its players out on the market earlier when there was still the windfall of free agent money being paid out.
Now, as sit here on the cusp of an uncapped season in 2010, the June 1st rule is gone. Amendments made to the CBA in the 2006 extension prepared for this uncapped year possibility and eliminated the June 1st rule.
Previously, June 1st was a big day because the signing bonus allocation remaining could be spread out over two years. Now, that money is immediately accelerated and hits the salary cap this season.
So, to answer the questions and speculation about which Kansas City Chiefs might get the boot today - none.