While the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks are preparing for their showdown in Super Bowl LX, the other 30 teams in the NFL are already in offseason mode. On Friday, the NFL shared some crucial information with all of them: the salary cap projection for the upcoming season is out.
According to a report by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the league will set its spending ceiling for 2026 in the range of $301.2 million to $305.7 million per team. For comparison, the cap was set at $279.2 million for the current
season.
At between 7.9% and 9.5%, the increase from 2025 to 2026 marks the latest major jump in the cap. In the five years since taking a one-year dip due to the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, it has grown by more than $100 million.
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Despite having been among the most active team in the NFL last offseason, the Patriots are again in decent shape heading into 2026.
According to salary cap expert Miguel Benzan, who is using the middle ground of $303.45 million for his calculations, the AFC champions are currently projected to be $42.6 million under the cap with 50 players signed. This places them in the top-10 for the next league year.
New England may be less financially flexible as last spring, when the club was near the top of the table, but it still has ample resources available to maintain the quality of its roster and add outside talent. At the moment, after all, only seven of its current players are headed for unrestricted free agency, with defensive linemen Khyiris Tonga and K’Lavon Chaisson as well as safety Jaylinn Hawkins the most prominent names on the list.
