There are a full five years left on the 2020 NFL collective bargaining agreement, but there is no sign that there will be any slowdown in the speed at which the salary cap is increasing.
After bottoming
out at $182.5M in 2021 after the revenue shortfall of the 2020 COVID season led to the first major decrease since implementation, the cap has been on a rocket ship, exploding higher with each subsequent league year.
- 2021: $182.5M
- 2022: $208.2M
- 2023: $224.8M
- 2024: $255.4M
- 2025: $279.2M
And according to a report from NFL insider Tom Pelissero Friday afternoon, the 2026 cap is set to break the $300M per team threshold.
For those who recall the recent review here at Field Gulls of where the Seattle Seahawks stand on their 2026 cap space, the numbers used in that post were based on the $295.5M estimate that OverTheCap.com has been using. That, of course, means that with the cap expected to land in the $301.2M to $305.7M range, Seattle would have an additional $5.7M to $10.2M to spend in free agency.
Of course, every team in the league has an additional $5.7M to $10.2M of cap space set to spend. Combine that with the fact that the rosters of most teams consist of a large number of players on cost-controlled rookie contracts, and the $22M to $26.5M jump in the cap will largely be funneled to a handful of players, driving average salaries higher faster than the cap itself is increasing.
