Hoarder's Tax

While the minimum number of real players on an active roster is less than 12 (link), any team that has a real player on their roster at the end of the regular season that has played in 0 regular season games will pay the league $1,000,000 per player. Note: cutting a player will not help you avoid this penalty.

On top of this, the player's salary will be added to your waived salary for the following season.

Moral of the story: if you have real players on your roster that you have absolutely zero intention of ever playing, spread the wealth.

In case anyone needed clarification, the hoarder's tax still applies even as the fake players have been weeded out of the file.