Cap Impact if Madubuike’s Career is Over

When it comes to DT Nnamdi Madubuike’s injury and his future, the silence and lack of information has been disconcerting to say the least.  With Head Coach John Harbaugh repeatedly passing on questions from beat writers seeking information or clarity on the injury, it’s hard not to fear for the worst. While still hoping for the best, this lack of information seems to strongly suggest what is likely a career-ending injury, especially since we do know it is a neck injury – and obviously, a serious one.

So, if the injury is in fact career-ending, where do Madubuike and the Ravens go from here?

THE CONTRACT

Madubuike signed a 4-year, $98M deal in the Spring of 2024.  That deal included $75.5M in guaranteed money, of which $53.5M was fully guaranteed.  Madubuike’s 2026 base salary of $22M was initially guaranteed for injury only, but it became fully guaranteed in March of 2025.

Madubuike’s 2026 Cap number is $30.975M, which includes that $22M guaranteed base salary and the $8.975M bonus prorations from his signing and option bonuses.  His 2027 salary is $22.5M, but none of that amount is guaranteed.  The deal also includes two (2) void years in 2028 and 2029 to allow for the maximum proration of five (5) years for the signing and options bonuses.

Partly because of those void years (and a 2024 restructure), there is still a whopping $51.925M in dead money that must be dealt with in 2026 and beyond.  That amount includes the $22M in 2026 guaranteed salary and $29.925M in bonus prorations for 2026-2029.  Those bonus prorations are for money that has already been paid to Madubuike via bonuses and, injury or not, must at some point be accounted for on the Ravens’ Cap.

Madubuike’s 2027 compensation of $22.5M (which includes his $18.5M salary and a $4M Roster Bonus) is not guaranteed.

This is what his contract presently looks like:

So, no matter what, if Madubuike’s career is over, there is going to be a lot of Salary Cap pain for the Ravens (to go along with the loss of their best defensive lineman).

RETIREMENT

This is easily the best scenario for the Ravens because it would relieve them of having to pay Madubuike’s $22M salary in cash and reduce the dead money to just $29.925M.

This, unfortunately, is also the least likely outcome.

To be clear, Madubuike is under no obligation to retire due to the injury, and he is 100% entitled to the fully guaranteed $22M.  This is exactly why players and agents fight for both injury-guaranteed and fully guaranteed salaries.

If Madubuike did agree to retire and forgo his $22M fully guaranteed salary, the Ravens and Madubuike would likely restructure the terms of his deal to allow for the Ravens to use a post-June 1 release designation and split the $29.925M in dead money between 2026 ($8.975M) and 2027 ($20.95M).  For Cap accounting purposes, they would also likely reduce his $22M salary down to the minimum of $1.215M (replacing the difference with a roster bonus due after June 1).  Since Madubuike would be retiring, neither of those numbers matter much to him, but this accounting trick would allow the Ravens to receive the bulk of the Cap savings ($20.785M) in March, as opposed to having to wait until after June 1 to receive the savings (due to the post-June 1 release designation).  This is a maneuver the Ravens have used in recent years with the release of WR Odell Beckham and the retirement of DT Micheal Pierce.

While having to take on $20.95M in dead money in 2027 is certainly not ideal, it’s far better than taking the entire $51.925M all in 2026 (which would be $20.95M more than his present Cap number of $30.975M).

Again, this is the best scenario for the Ravens’ Cap, but the least likely outcome.

NON-RETIREMENT

If Madubuike doesn’t retire, then he will spend the 2026 season on IR and receive the $22M guaranteed salary.  His Cap number while on IR would be $30.975M.

The Ravens would then have three options for handling 2027 and beyond for Salary Cap purposes:

• They could still use a 2026 post-June 1 release, which wouldn’t save any Cap space in 2026 (due to the fully guaranteed $22M salary), but would again allow them to push $20.95M of the $51.925M in dead money into 2027.
• They could just hold onto Madubuike until March of 2027 and simply release him (or process his retirement) at that time. This would also mean $20.95M in dead money in 2027.
• They could emulate how they revised Beckham’s deal in 2024 by replacing the 2028 void year with a dummy salary. By adding the dummy salary in 2028, it replaces the void year in 2028 and allows the Ravens to do a 2027 post-June 1 release and spread the remaining $20.95M in dead money between 2027 ($8.975M) and 2028 ($11.975M).

Of these choices, this last one is probably the most likely scenario for how this will play out if Madubuike cannot resume his career.  It allows the Ravens to push out the dead money as far as they can and lessens the impact of the dead money in any given year.  This would still mean dead money of $30.975M (2026), $8.975M (2027) and $11.975M (2028), which still isn’t very palatable, but is probably the best of several bad options given that there is $51.925M in dead money that must be addressed.

Again, the hope is that there will be good news at some point and Madubuike will be able to return next year, but the scant amount of public information to date coupled with the squeamish way in which Harbaugh addresses questions about Madubuike, doesn’t paint a bright picture for the 28-year-old two-time Pro Bowler from Dallas, Texas.

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Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2025/12/10/baltimore-ravens-salary-cap/madubuike-could-be-done/