NFL teams will have some extra money to spend this season.
The league announced that its 2024 salary cap will be $255.4 million per team. The number marks a $30-plus million jump from the 2023 salary cap, which was $224.8 million.
The unprecedented spike is partially the result of the full repayments of amounts advanced by franchises and deferred by players during the COVID-19 pandemic. New media rights deals, as well as regular season and playoff expansion, are also contributing factors.
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The spike will have significant impact across the league, especially teams that would have been over the cap based on earlier projections, which were around $242 million. As of Friday afternoon, seven teams are above the official 2024 figure, per Over The Cap: the Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Chargers, Miami Dolphins, New Orleans Saints and Buffalo Bills.
On the other end of the scale, teams with existing cap space got even more ahead of free agency. The Washington Commanders, New England Patriots and Chicago Bears are all more than $80 million below the cap as of Friday afternoon.
Teams have until 4 p.m. ET on March 13 to get under the salary cap ahead of the official start of free agency.
On top of the salary cap number, the NFL also announced an additional $74 million per club payment for player benefits and official franchise and transition tag numbers.