NFL groups obtained some welcomed information on Wednesday, because the league knowledgeable them that the projected 2026 salary cap is expected to fall between $301.2 million and $305.7 million per staff, in accordance to league sources. If these projections maintain, the league will as soon as once more development upwards, persevering with a post-pandemic surge that has reshaped rosters and long-term contracts throughout the NFL.
NFL salary cap takes one other historic leap ahead
The projected 2026 cap would symbolize an enormous improve from the 2025 cap of $279.2 million, a jump of roughly $22–26 million in a single yr. To put the expansion into higher perspective, the cap sat at $208.2 million in 2022, which means groups at the moment are working with almost $100 million extra in spending energy in simply 4 seasons.
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That sort of progress was unthinkable through the COVID-impacted years, when the cap dipped to $182.5 million in 2021 and compelled groups into tough choices.
|
Year |
Salary Cap |
% Increase |
|
2021 |
$182.5 million |
|
|
2022 |
$208.2 million |
14.08% |
|
2023 |
$224.8 million |
7.97% |
|
2024 |
$255.4 million |
13.61% |
|
2025 |
$279.2 million |
9.32% |
|
2026 |
Projected $301 million – $305 million |
8.67% (projected from $303 million) |
The continued rise within the salary cap has been pushed by a number of key components:
-
Media rights offers, together with broadcast and streaming partnerships
-
Expanded regular-season video games now at 17
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Strong attendance and premium seating gross sales
All of it flows into the NFL’s revenue-sharing mannequin, the place roughly half of football-related revenue is funneled again to gamers within the type of the salary cap. Yes, this implies all of these completely different streaming choices all of us complain about is no less than serving to our favourite staff with expanded cap area.
Why this issues for groups just like the Bills
While the precise 2026 cap quantity gained’t be finalized till the league yr approaches in March, the Buffalo Bills can be between about $6 million and slightly below $10 million over the cap. Teams have to be beneath the cap prior to the brand new league yr, which begins at 4 p.m. on March 11, 2026. This means the Bills can have to be proactive in creating area prior to that date.
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The improve within the salary cap does nonetheless instantly assist the Bills who had been estimated to be round $11 million over the cap prior to the brand new projected cap being launched by the NFL Wednesday. The Bills do have flexibility to create area and a great deal of it, and with the rise within the cap projection the Bills usually are not as far behind the curve as they had been just some days in the past.