Tag: 2021 Salary Cap

Report: NFL salary cap at $182.5 million in 2021

The NFL salary cap will be $182.5 million in 2021, a decrease from 2020.

The NFL salary cap was expected to decline in 2021, and now the official figures have been released.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the salary cap for the 2021 season will be $182.5 million, down from $198.2 million in 2020.

The numbers for the 2021 salary cap were based on the revenue generated during the 2020 season, which saw inequities in stadium attendance with some cities allowing fans at a reduced capacities and some cities not allowing fans at all.

“[The] salary cap is this year what the salary cap is this year because it was based on a projection from last year’s revenue,” NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith told reporters on July 17, 2020. “Next year’s salary cap will be projected on revenue this year if nothing happens, if the [collective bargaining agreement] operates the way the CBA is going to operate.”

For the salary cap-strapped Houston Texans, a drop in the salary cap is not what they needed as they seek to rebuild from a 4-12 season without their first and second-round picks to use.

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2021 NFL salary cap set at $182.5M

According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the 2021 NFL salary cap will be $182.5M.

The NFL has finally set the 2021 salary cap.

According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the final number passed down is $182.5 million.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic keeping fans away from stadiums last season, it was expected that the cap for next season would draft. Originally the NFL set a “cap floor” at $175M, but the league later brought that up to $180M.

Recent reports suggested the cap could land anywhere between $180-185M, and with this final number, the NFL lands right in the middle of that estimation.

In 2020, the league operated under a cap figure of $198.2M. Prior to the ongoing pandemic, the salary cap had traditionally gone up each offseason. One would have expected it to surpass $200M prior to COVID-19’s arrival.

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Vikings among nine teams over salary cap floor of $180 million

If the salary cap floor ends up being the base cap for the 2021 NFL season, the Minnesota Vikings are going to be in a tough spot.

As evidenced by some of the moves the team has made so far, the Vikings are in a tough situation with the 2021 salary cap.

It’s hard to figure out what the Vikings will have to do to get under the 2021 base cap, on account of the exact figure not being officially determined as of now.

We do know the lowest the salary cap can be, though. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the salary cap floor will be $180 million. If the floor ends up being the official cap, the Vikings are in trouble.

According to Over The Cap, Minnesota and eight other NFL teams will be over the 2021 salary cap if $180.5 million — the projection that the outlet is going with right now — ends up being the total. Of course, all these teams would still be over the 2021 salary cap if it’s $180 million as well.

Here is a full list of teams that would be over the cap in that instance:

Vikings ($3,559,416)
Lions ($6,823,413)
Bears ($6,989,053)
Packers ($11,426,181)
Falcons ($19,561,587)
Chiefs ($22,834,019)
Eagles ($33,896,468)
Rams ($35,136,331)
Saints ($48,882,146)

So Minnesota has some work to do. The team already released TE Kyle Rudolph, CB Tae Hayes and CB Cordrea Tankersley. Also, Minnesota wants to restructure with Riley Reiff, according to Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press.

Report: Vikings hoping to restructure LT Riley Reiff’s contract

The Minnesota Vikings reportedly want to restructure with LT Riley Reiff this offseason. Will they do it before 2021 free agency?

Riley Reiff is a pretty good left tackle, so a little under $15 million isn’t an unfair price tag.

However, the Vikings are in the midst of a tricky salary cap situation. Last offseason, Minnesota was also in a tough spot with the cap. Per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Reiff agreed to take his salary from $11 million down to $6 million in order to make room for Yannick Ngakoue.

Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press reported that the Vikings hope something similar will happen again. Minnesota wants to restructure with Reiff this offseason, per Tomasson. If that doesn’t happen, right guard Ezra Cleveland and right tackle Brian O’Neill are both possible options for the left tackle spot.

Minnesota will have plenty of tough business decisions this offseason, if the base salary cap stays around $180 million. Vikings fans should hope that the team retains as many players as it can, especially one of Reiff’s caliber.

Bills add carryover cap space from last season for 2021

2020 salary cap carryover in the NFL and the Buffalo Bills.

In an offseason filled with news about a shrinking salary cap in 2021, the Bills got some good news this week.

According to ESPN’s Field Yates, the Bills officially carried over $5.9 million in salary cap space from 2020. That number is tacked onto their cap total for next season.

Each team has a different amount of space that carries over. The Bills’ number is the 21st highest. Only one team lost cap space in this movement, and that was the Bucs, who probably had to pay out some Super Bowl-winning bonuses to players.

We think they’ll live with that.

On the flip side, the Browns’ $29.4M figure is the largest.

It’s hard to pin exactly where the Bills are at in terms of the 2021 salary cap at this point because we still don’t know what that final number will be. According to Spotrac’s latest figures as of Friday, if the 2021 salary cap is set at $185M next season, Buffalo will have $5.3M in cap space.

Regardless, the Bills and general manager Brandon Beane still have to make some financial moves in the coming weeks to free up more room. Latest reports suggest that the final 2021 salary cap number might not come down from the league until right before free agency opens on March 17.

Stay tuned to Bills Wire for all those updates.

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What does NFL’s new salary cap floor mean for the Bears?

The NFL announced the salary cap floor has increased to $180 million, and here’s how that’ll affect the Bears in 2021.

One of the challenges the Chicago Bears and the rest of the NFL face in 2021 is the salary cap, which will decrease following financial losses due to COVID-19.

The NFL and NFLPA previously negotiated on a $175 million floor for the salary cap. But the two sides came to an agreement to raise the floor to $180 million, which gives teams a little more wiggle room. While that’s not the final amount — ESPN believes it could get as high as $185 million — which will likely be announced in March, it gives teams an idea of what the salary cap will look like.

But what does that mean for the Chicago Bears in 2021?

If the salary cap floor holds up, the Bears will be $2.5 million over the cap in 2021, according to Over The Cap. That means that general manager Ryan Pace is going to have to some decisions to make in regards to restructuring deals and cutting players to free up cap space.

“We have to be conscious,” Pace said of the salary cap situation back in January. “Obviously, as you know every year there’s ways to create cap space and those are all important decisions that we have to make.

“It kind of starts with that, evaluating our own roster and talking (over) some of those things. That’s real.”

Some potential cap casualties include tight end Jimmy Graham ($7 million), right tackle Bobby Massie ($5.4 million), left tackle Charles Leno ($6.2 million), cornerback Buster Skrine ($2.7 million) and receiver Anthony Miller ($1.2 million)

Considering the Bears have roughly 30 free agents this offseason, Pace has his work cut out for him, especially as some of those free agents should be priorities, including receivers Allen Robinson and Cordarrelle Patterson, as well as kicker Cairo Santos.

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NFL announces new $180 million salary cap floor for 2021 season

The NFL informed teams that there will be an increase in the original salary cap floor for the 2021 season, from $175 to $180 million.

The NFL announced that there will be an increase in the original salary cap floor for the 2021 season.

Previously, the salary cap floor was slated to be around $175 million, which was due to the financial concerns due to COVID-19. Now, according to a memo sent to NFL teams, the new salary cap floor will increase to $180 million.

Here’s the memo the NFL sent out to teams:

“As you know, one aspect of the agreements negotiated last summer with the NFLPA to address operations during the pandemic provides that the 2021 Salary Cap will be no less than $175 million. Following discussions with the union that addressed both actual 2020 revenues and projected attendance for the 2021 season, we have agreed to increase the minimum Salary cap for the 2021 League Year to $180 million.

“This is not the final Salary Cap for the 2021 League Year, which will be set following review of final 2020 revenue figures and other audit and accounting adjustments. This agreement simply increases the minimum 2021 Salary Cap by $5 million per club, from $175 million to $180 million.

“We will promptly advise all clubs as soon as the Salary Cap is set.”

While the floor has risen to $180 million, that’s not necessarily the set amount. The NFL and NFLPA still need to agree to a final amount.

The salary cap is usually announced in late February, but reports indicated that it likely won’t be revealed until the lead-up to free agency in mid March. Perhaps even “hours before the start of the league year,” which is on March 17, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.

But, at minimum, Bears general manager Ryan Pace will have around $18.2 million less cap space to work with in 2021. Which means he has some important decisions to make in terms of freeing up cap space for next season.

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What does NFL’s new salary cap floor mean for the Vikings?

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that 2021’s salary cap will be a minimum of $180 million. How does that affect the Minnesota Vikings?

With reports of the 2021 salary cap floor, where does that leave the Vikings?

As reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, 2021’s salary cap will be a minimum of $180 million. With that in mind, Minnesota will still have to cut back on certain contracts, but it wouldn’t be nearly as costly as the base salary cap being even $10 million lower.

Over The Cap currently projects the Vikings to be more than 9.4 million over the salary cap, assuming the base cap space is $180.5 million for 2021. So that would leave Minnesota a little under $10 million over the salary cap if Schefter’s reported minimum cap ends up being the salary cap.

Also, since $180 million is the lowest the cap can be, Minnesota could get lucky and end up with a base salary cap of something higher. If it does end up being $180 million, though, the Vikings and 11 other NFL teams will be over the cap.

Minnesota might still have to restructure, cut or trade key veterans such as Kyle Rudolph, Anthony Barr, Riley Reiff and Harrison Smith. There’s also the possibility that the team could extend Kirk Cousins, lessening his cap hit on 2021, but that of course adds more money to later years.

NFL confirms salary cap floor of $180M, Eagles ranked 31st in cap space

The NFL confirmed that the 2021 salary cap will be no less than $180 million

The numbers aren’t official, and as the NFL continues to negotiate a salary cap moving forward for the 2021 season, Adam Schefter is reporting that the cap floor will be set at $180 million.

In the memo, the league confirmed there’s still wiggle room for an increase and the numbers should be known soon.

The memo in its entirety:

Prior to the pandemic, the salary cap had risen at least $10 million per season and the loss of income comes at a horrible time, as the Eagles will enter the new league year some $47 million in the red per Over The Cap. 

In the division, The Washington Football has the most cap space with just under $38 million (No. 5 overall), the Cowboys have $19 million in space (No. 12) and New York has just under $500,000 (No. 20).

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Report: How an update on the salary cap could affect the Vikings

So it could be worse, but the Minnesota Vikings are reportedly looking at a tough salary cap situation.

With the way Minnesota’s cap space is set up for 2021, the Vikings will almost certainly have to cut back on big contracts this offseason.

There have been some reports that show a considerably lower base salary cap for the upcoming season and that could lead to the Vikings having to make even more difficult decisions.

Over The Cap currently projects the Vikings to be more than $7.6 million over the salary cap, assuming the base cap space is $180.5 million for 2021.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, that number doesn’t seem to be too far off. Schefter reported that the league’s salary cap is expected to be roughly $180-$181 million. The cap is not anticipated to be officially set until next month, per Schefter.

So it could be worse, but Minnesota would still have to cut back on bigger contracts if the base salary cap ends up being somewhere between there. Here are some potential cap casualty candidates on the Vikings.