While the official figure for the 2021 NFL salary cap is not yet established, teams got a bit of good news on Thursday. In a memo sent to all 32 teams from the league office, the NFL established that the minimum figure for the cap in the upcoming season will be no less than $180 million.
That’s higher than the worst-case scenario of $175 million, which was the figure the NFL and NFLPA agreed upon as the lowest possible cap figure during negotiations last summer. The $180 million is still tens of millions under what the cap projected to be under normal business conditions, but the COVID-19 pandemic significantly lowered the NFL’s operating budgets and income.
The exact figure for the 2021 salary cap for all teams is expected to be established soon. Typically the cap figure gets announced during the annual scouting combine in late February, but that event has been canceled due to the pandemic.