2021 Salary Cap Will $182.5M Per Team

Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that NFL teams have been informed that the 2021 salary cap will be $182.5 million. 

According to Tom Pelissero, the NFL informed teams that they won’t be allowed to borrow cap room from future years to help them in 2021, which means it’s a hard $182.5 million salary cap.

This represents a reduction of $15.7 million from last year’s cap, which is why so many teams are working to get their cap in order this offseason. 

NFL teams have been waiting for the official number to be announced, but that didn’t stop 10 teams from using the franchise tag this year. 

While the floor for the 2021 salary cap has been bumped up to $180 million, the expectation has been that it will come in the range of $182-$183 million. 

It’s thought that the league is waiting for major TV broadcast rights deals to be finalized before setting the cap, as that’s expected to result in a huge increase in money over the next decade. 

The NFL also has the right to expand to a 17-game regular season, but a new media contract would have to be finalized before the NFL officially adds the 17th game to the regular season in 2021.

The league is reportedly in negotiations right now and there has been talk that agreements with some networks could be in place at some point in the coming weeks. 

Every dollar will help teams who are expected to face a major challenge adjusting to the salary cap falling for the first time in decades due to revenue losses from the pandemic. It was at $198 million in 2020 and had risen around $10 million a year for most of the past decade.