The NFL salary cap broke the $300 million barrier.
Free agents and their representatives had plenty to celebrate Friday when the NFL announced that the salary cap per team in 2026 is $301.2 million.
That figure represents a 7.9 percent year-over-year increase, a 65 percent increase over 2021 when league revenues were down because of COVID-19, and nearly double what the cap was a decade ago ($155.2 million in 2016).
Since every team got the same boost, the teams with the most to spend didn’t change.
The tweaks were made to teams’ cap space, which now has the Jets (No. 3) with $88.7 million and the Giants (No. 20) with $978,921, according to OvertheCap.com.
The Giants’ cap space is expected to grow exponentially via salary-cap casualties and contract restructures before the March 9 start of free agency.
After the Patriots’ NFL-high $364 million free-agent spending spree last offseason helped fuel a turnaround from 4-13 to AFC champions under first-year head coach Mike Vrabel, other teams with new head coaches flush with cap space could be contenders to overspend for a quick fix.
Look no further than Robert Saleh’s Titans ($94.7 million) and Klint Kubiak’s Raiders ($89 million) — the only two teams with more flexibility than the Jets.
With the new salary cap set, the franchise tag cost for a running back — the Jets’ Breece Hall, for example — is $14.2 million.
The transition tag is $11.3 million.
Teams also will spend $77.6 million each in player benefits, according to the league.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
