Earlier this morning, the NFL Salary Cap for 2021 was confirmed. With a week to go before free agency, now’s a good time to see how much cap space your favorite team has.
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As expected, the NFL officially set the salary cap in the $180 million to $185 million range. To be exact, the salary cap for 2021 will be $182.5 million per team.
Teams were bracing for anything between $180M and $185M. The 2021 salary cap lands right in the middle. It will set off a tough few weeks for veterans. https://t.co/wjCvnLXw5I
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 10, 2021
And with the cap finally locked in, five days before the open of the free-agent negotiating window, a lot of business is about to get done league-wide.
Buckle up. https://t.co/Y1ecOe94tR
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 10, 2021
Also read: Aaron Rodgers Has Accomplished What Tom Brady, Peyton Manning & Drew Brees Never Have & Never Will
What is the NFL Salary Cap? How Does It Work?
The NFL Salary Cap puts a limit on the amount a team can spend on players’ salaries. It minimizes the financial risk for clubs of having a higher-than-manageable salary bill.
However more importantly, the cap levels the playing field for all 32 NFL teams. Because every team has the same spending limit, it prevents a team from simply attracting the best talent with the offer of a higher salary.
Along with methods like the draft, which sees worse performing teams get the chance to get higher selections, the salary cap is an essential tool to ensure parity in the league.
The rules pertaining to the salary cap are found in the articles of the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement. The exact details are far beyond the scope of this article, but it includes information regarding items such as carryovers from previous years and borrowing from future years.
For example, this year teams have been informed they will not be able to borrow cap space.
The NFL informed clubs they won’t be allowed to borrow cap room from future years to help them in 2021 under Article 11, Section 2 of the CBA, per sources.
So, it’s a hard $182.5 million salary cap, though obviously teams have carryover and various mechanisms to clear space.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 10, 2021
NFL Salary Cap 2021: Who has the highest Adjusted Cap and Available Cap Space?
With the salary cap set at $182.5M for 2021, a look at every NFL team’s adjusted salary cap number, led by the Browns at $211,909,691. pic.twitter.com/VIcZHd7Gui
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) March 10, 2021
For those looking for available cap space per team, this is the screenshot from the Sportrac web site. All 32 teams are listed (sorry for the small font on this). The available cap space is shaded in gray. pic.twitter.com/T06FKOsGx4
— Jim Santos (@dajjgrinch) March 10, 2021
