The most recent wage cap projection arrived in December, hinting at a modest increase. Because it seems, that replace undersold the place the NFL’s 2025 wage ceiling will verify in.
That projection pointed to the 2025 cap falling between $265M-$275M, however ESPN.com’s Dan Graziano indicates a growth past $280M is now in play. The NFL has knowledgeable groups it can as an alternative land between $277.5M and $281.5M. Anyplace on this vary will mark at the least a $22M enhance from 2024.
This greater-than-expected enhance is not going to break the report 2024’s cap set, nevertheless it be a welcome sight after the rumor that had indicated a lesser soar would happen. Groups all of the sudden may have a couple of further million to throw round in free company and to allocate towards extensions. This can even mark an enormous soar from the place the cap was simply 4 years in the past.
The COVID-19 pandemic resulting in empty stadiums or closely capped attendance in 2020 led to the 2021 cap dropping to $182.5M. 4 years later, the cap may have risen by almost $100M.
This continues a stream of development, a pattern that didn’t develop through the 2011 CBA, which featured stagnancy it its early years earlier than roughly $10M-per-year climbs as the last decade progressed. A 2020 CBA that has included two extra playoff video games, a seventeenth regular-season contest, new TV offers and elevated playing partnerships has seen cap spikes by greater than $16M annually for the reason that pandemic-induced lower of 2021 and by at the least $20M thrice since then.
Final yr’s record-setting soar ($30.6M) might have featured a much bigger spike, because the league’s memo (via The Athletic’s Dianna Russini) signifies a smoothing effort happened to supply a extra gradual climb relatively than have a near-$40M bump in 2024 and a far lesser surge this yr. Roughly $1M of this yr’s bump can even come through performance-based pay.
The 2024 enhance introduced new position-record contracts at many positions. Chris Jones eclipsed the salary ceiling Aaron Donald‘s then-outlier contract had set for defensive tackles, whereas Chiefs teammate Creed Humphrey is more than $4M clear (AAV-wise) than some other middle. The guard market noticed Landon Dickerson verify in with a brand new report ($21M per yr) just before the 2024 league year opened, whereas each Patrick Surtain and Jalen Ramsey agreed to deals that broke the cornerback record by a considerable margin. Christian McCaffrey later broke his own RB AAV record by securing a two-year, $38M extension final summer time.
The 2 highest-profile positional spikes got here at quarterback and huge receiver, respectively. The $30M-AAV WR membership expanded from one to six, with Justin Jefferson‘s $35M-per-year contract the brand new normal. After the $50M-per-year QB membership added a number of new members, Dak Prescott used distinctive leverage to safe a $60M-AAV extension hours before the Cowboys’ Week 1 game. Whereas one other quarterback topping that this yr could also be unlikely — barring true Payments-Josh Allen renegotiations transpiring — place information elsewhere (seemingly headlined by Ja’Marr Chase at receiver) are seemingly thanks partly to Wednesday’s information of better-than-expected cap development.
Right here is how the cap has seemed over the previous two CBAs:
- 2011: $120.4M
- 2012: $120.6M
- 2013: $123.6M
- 2014: $133M
- 2015: $143.3M
- 2016: $155.3M
- 2017: $167M
- 2018: $177.2M
- 2019: $188.2M
- 2020: $198.2M
- 2021: $182.5M
- 2022: $208.2M
- 2023: $224.8M
- 2024: $255.4M
