The most recent wage cap projection arrived in December, hinting at a modest enhance. Because it seems, that replace undersold the place the NFL’s 2025 wage ceiling will test in.
That projection pointed to the 2025 cap falling between $265M-$275M, however ESPN.com’s Dan Graziano signifies a increase past $280M is now in play. The NFL has knowledgeable groups it can as a substitute 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 won’t break the report 2024’s cap set, but it surely be a welcome sight after the rumor that had indicated a lesser bounce would happen. Groups abruptly may have just a few additional million to throw round in free company and to allocate towards extensions. This can even mark an enormous bounce 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 progress, a pattern that didn’t develop throughout 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 every year for the reason that pandemic-induced lower of 2021 and by at the least $20M thrice since then.
Final yr’s record-setting bounce ($30.6M) might have featured an even bigger spike, because the league’s memo (through The Athletic’s Dianna Russini) signifies a smoothing effort befell to provide a extra gradual climb moderately 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 wage ceiling Aaron Donald‘s then-outlier contract had set for defensive tackles, whereas Chiefs teammate Creed Humphrey is greater than $4M clear (AAV-wise) than some other heart. The guard market noticed Landon Dickerson test in with a brand new report ($21M per yr) simply earlier than the 2024 league yr opened, whereas each Patrick Surtain and Jalen Ramsey agreed to offers that broke the cornerback report by a considerable margin. Christian McCaffrey later broke his personal RB AAV report by securing a two-year, $38M extension final summer time.
The 2 highest-profile positional spikes got here at quarterback and extensive receiver, respectively. The $30M-AAV WR membership expanded from one to 6, 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 earlier than the Cowboys’ Week 1 sport. Whereas one other quarterback topping that this yr could also be unlikely — barring true Payments-Josh Allen renegotiations transpiring — place information elsewhere (probably headlined by Ja’Marr Chase at receiver) are probably thanks partly to Wednesday’s information of better-than-expected cap progress.
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
