The NFL off-season has only just begun and we already have some league-altering news that was announced Feb. 23.
All NFL team’s salary caps will be rising to $255.4 million dollars, an increase of $30.6 million from last season, marking a 13.6 per cent increase. The salary increase marks a historic season revenue as the NFL has not seen a salary cap increase of this magnitude since 1994, when the salary cap was first introduced.
This news comes at a relief for a few teams in the NFL that were projected to be over the the previously projected cap increase from $240 to $245 million. The Green Bay Packers, Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers can all breathe a sigh of relief as they no longer have to make trades/cuts to get under the cap.
This will also benefit teams such as the Los Angeles Chargers who have a lot of “overpaid” players that they were looking to cut such as Joey Bosa.
Many fans are excited about the cap increase as they think their team will be able to spend more this offseason. However, according to reports from many analysts and executives around the league, many teams have been operating in the red over the past two or three years.
The salary cap increase has led to teams getting a head start on franchise-tagging players. The Cincinnati Bengals franchise tagged their WR2 Tee Higgins on Feb. 23 which allows them until July to sign him to a long term extension or renegotiate the one-year deal for the upcoming season. Some players have opted for the latter in the past two seasons, two being star running backs Saquon Barkley (NYG) and Josh Jacobs (LV).
With the NFL draft under two months away, teams will start to get active in trade discussions and transactions leading up to the big days on Apr. 25 through 27.
To keep up to date on all NFL news, visit NFL.com.