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A player getting released because his performance doesn't justify his salary is a way of life in the NFL, where contracts aren't fully guaranteed. When a player is released or traded, the remaining proration of the salary components that are treated like signing bonus immediately accelerate into his team's current salary cap.
For example, if a player signs a five-year contract with a $10 million signing bonus, $2 million of his signing bonus counts toward the salary cap for each year of his contract.