NFL sets salary cap at $182.5 million, down 8% from 2020
The NFL’s salary cap will be $182.5 million per team in the upcoming season, a drop of 8% from 2020. The league’s loss of revenues due to the coronavirus pandemic caused the first decrease in the cap since 2011, which followed an uncapped season.
Free agency begins next Wednesday, though the “legal tampering” period starts Monday.
The current cap is $2.5 million higher than projected last month. Last summer, the players’ union and league agreed to a cap minimum of $175 million, but that number jumped by $5 million in February and was set at $182.5 million on Wednesday.
The Rams are currently $41 million beyond the cap. The Eagles were over by about $35 million and the Saints by $33 million.
On the other side of the ledger, the Jets, Patriots and Jaguars had the most money available, ranging from $65 million to $67 million.
Nine players having been given franchise tags: receivers Chris Godwin (Tampa Bay) and Allen Robinson (Chicago); offensive linemen Taylor Moton (Carolina), Cam Robinson (Jacksonville) and All-Pro Brandon Scherff (Washington); safeties Marcus Maye (New York Jets), Marcus Williams (New Orleans) and Justin Simmons (Denver); and defensive tackle Leonard Williams (New York Giants). Their cap numbers are set by the tag designations. HEALTHY PRESCOTT SIGNS RICHEST CONTRACT IN COWBOYS HISTORY >> Dak Prescott walked briskly and bounced up the couple of steps onto the stage for the announcement of the richest contract in the storied history of the Dallas Cowboys for their latest star quarterback.
It was five months almost to the day Wednesday since the gruesome ankle injury that ended Prescott’s 2020 season and led to immediate questions whether the big payday would ever come after a long stalemate.
The answer came two days earlier when the sides — two years after they started talking — agreed on a $160 million, four-year contract with the NFL’s second-highest annual average behind Kansas City star Patrick Mahomes.
SAINTS RELEASE SANDERS >> The New Orleans Saints released wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders and reportedly restructured the contracts of offensive lineman Andrus Peat and safety Malcolm Jenkins, clearing nearly $16 million in cap space.
The Saints are also expected to release linebacker Kwon Alexander in the coming days, a move that would clear another $13 million.
Sanders, who turns 34 on March 17, would have counted $10.5 million against the salary cap in 2021.
PANTHERS REWORK MCCAFFREY, THOMPSON >> The Panthers have restructured the contracts of running back Christian McCaffrey and linebacker Shaq Thompson, freeing up more than $11 million in cap space.
The moves leave the Panthers about $30 million under the salary cap, but the team has roughly $17 million of that pegged to sign draft picks and to have on hand for the start of the season for additional moves. That leaves Carolina with $13 million to spend.
BILLS CUT BROWN, JEFFERSON >> The Buffalo Bills released receiver John Brown and defensive lineman Quinton Jefferson.
Brown had one year remaining on a three-year, $27 million contract he signed in free agency. And Jefferson had one year left on the two-year, $13.5 million contract he signed in joining the Bills last offseason.