Pro Football Rumors
The latest salary cap projection arrived in December, hinting at a modest increase. As it turns out, that update undersold where the NFL’s 2025 salary ceiling will check in.
That projected pointed to the 2025 cap falling between $265-$275MM, but ESPN.com’s Dan Graziano indicates a boom beyond $280MM is now in play. The NFL has informed teams it will instead land between $277.5MM and $281.5MM. Anywhere in this range will mark at least a $22MM increase from the 2024 cap ($255.4MM).
This greater-than-expected increase will not break the record 2024’s cap set, but it be a welcome sight after the rumor that had indicated a lesser jump would take place. Teams suddenly will have a few extra million to throw around in free agency and to allocate toward extensions. This will also mark a massive jump from where the cap was just four years ago.
The COVID-19 pandemic leading to fanless stadiums and/or heavily capped attendance in 2020 led to the 2021 cap dropping to $182.5MM. Four years later, the cap will have risen by nearly $100MM. This continues a stream of growth, a trend that did not develop during the 2011 CBA, which featured stagnancy it its early years before roughly $10MM-per-year climbs as the decade progressed.
More to come.
