The NFL officially announced its 2024 salary cap on Friday, and it’s much larger than expected.
The NFL will have a salary cap of $255.4 million per team in 2024, a significant increase from $224.8 million last season.
“The unprecedented $30 million increase per club in this year’s Salary Cap is the result of the full repayment of all amounts advanced by the clubs and deferred by the players during the Covid pandemic as well as an extraordinary increase in media revenue for the 2024 season,” the league said in a statement.
Before that announcement, websites like OverTheCap.com had estimated a $242 million salary cap for 2024. Using that estimate, the Denver Broncos were projected to be about $24 million over the cap ahead of NFL free agency.
With the cap now officially set at $255.4 million, the Broncos are only $10.7 million over the cap, according to an estimate from OTC. Denver still has some work to do to get under the cap, but Friday’s $13 million boost gives the team a great head start.
The Broncos are expected to release quarterback Russell Wilson next month and the increased cap will make it a little easier to eat his “dead money” cap hits. Wilson’s cap hit in 2024 will be either $35.4 million or $53 million, depending on how Denver designates the release (before or after June 1).
The team’s $10.7 million deficit already accounts for Wilson’s $35.4 million cap hit in 2024, so if it’s designated as a post-June 1 release, Wilson’s (expected) departure will not create a bigger cap deficit (in 2024) than the team is already facing.
With the NFL’s salary cap increasing by $30 million, the Broncos will have a much easier path to cap compliance than we expected.
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