2021 Salary Cap – Page 3 – Syndication Server

Report: 2021 salary cap could settle near $185M, which is great news for Saints

NFL Network reports that the 2021 salary cap could land around $185 million, which would be great news for the New Orleans Saints.

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The COVID-19 pandemic prompted widespread health and safety restrictions around the country, which produced a big hit to the NFL’s financials. But the league was able to recoup enough income from the 2020 season to steady itself, and with new broadcasting deals and an additional week of games in the regular season on the horizon, NFL ownership is optimistic that the 2021 salary cap won’t end up in straits as dire as expected.

That’s the latest report from NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, who wrote:

“The NFL and NFLPA began preliminary negotiations last month on the 2021 salary cap. Some team officials believe (and surely hope) the cap will ultimately land closer to $185 million per club — if not a little higher — than the $175 million minimum the sides agreed to last summer as they braced for empty and mostly empty stadiums.”

To be clear, any drop in the salary cap is a problem for the New Orleans Saints. After rising to $198.2 million in 2020, a fall to $185 million will mean some painful cap casualties for the Saints and more creative accounting from the front office. The Saints have conducted business over the last decade with the expectation that they can always kick the can further down the road, because the cap has continued to rise. Now that a global pandemic has put a stop to that, they’ll have to adopt a different approach.

But a $13.2 million decrease (or thereabouts) would be preferable to $23.2 million in losses, which is the worst-case scenario the NFL and the players union compromised on when this all blew up. Considering the Saints have $281.4 million committed to their top 51 contracts next year (the ones that actually matter for accounting purposes), per Over The Cap, they’ll appreciate all the help they can get. They need it with free agents like Trey Hendrickson, Marcus Williams, and Jameis Winston due contract extensions.

Unfortunately, the exact cap total won’t be established until later in the offseason, potentially not until the start of the new league year. That feels unlikely given how high the stakes are for all involved, but until the NFL works out deals with its new broadcast partners and puts the finishing touches on the 17th week, they won’t have a real answer. With that said, it’s encouraging to see some optimism at this stage in the offseason.

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See the Vikings’ rollover salary cap space for 2021

The Minnesota Vikings need all the help it can get for the team’s 2021 salary cap space.

Minnesota is entering into another cash-strapped offseason, presumably filled with plenty of tough decisions because of that.

The Vikings need all the help they can get on the salary cap. The team’s rollover space from 2020 should at least help a bit.

According to Field Yates of ESPN, the Vikings have a little more than $4.5 million in rollover space. That ranks as the 22nd most in the NFL.

For those who don’t know, rollover space is unused cap space from the previous season that can be applied to the following season. So Minnesota can allocate its rollover money to 2021.

Here is a full list of each team’s rollover space for the 2021 season:

1. Cleveland — $30,366,604
2. NY Jets — $26,686,546
3. Dallas — $25,443,439
4. Jacksonville — $23,481,404
5. Philadelphia — $22,756,775
6. New England — $19,571,247
7. Denver — $17,788,121
8. Washington — $15,830,173
9. Miami — $15,229,375
10. Detroit — $12,819,468
11. Cincinnati — $10,792,275
12. Houston — $9,189,845
13. Indianapolis — $8,310,897
14. LA Chargers — $8,072,299
15. Chicago — $7,042,995
16. LA Rams — $5,674,141
17. Kansas City — $5,097,253
18. Arizona — $5,035,548
19. Pittsburgh — $4,950,555
20. NY Giants — $4,801,375
21. Tampa Bay — $4,582,058
22. Minnesota — $4,526,324
23. Carolina — $4,270,682
24. New Orleans — $4,122,189
25. Buffalo — $3,771,955
26. Green Bay — $3,748,893
27. Las Vegas — $3,573,971
28. Tennessee — $2,348,822
29. San Francisco — $1,922,299
30. Atlanta — $1,780,606
31. Seattle — $956,477
32. Baltimore — $586,822

Cowboys initially carry over $25 million of unspent cap space into 2021

The Dallas Cowboys have always been a team that spent all the way right up to the salary cap, leaving no stone unturned. When the rules of the NFL changed in recent years, allowed organizations to rollover unspent cap space to the next season, Dallas has taken advantage of that, but still remained one of the top spenders. They haven’t used it to buy high-priced free agents, but they’ve still spent to try and maximize their roster in the way they saw as best.

But in 2020, with a raging pandemic and a gigantic decrease in the usually always-exploding cap for the next season, Dallas was cautious in their spending. With a quarterback situation up in the air and a large sum of money already committed to a group of star players, the Cowboys didn’t open their wallets the way they had in the past, and therefore are rolling over a sizable amount of unused cap space into 2021. Dallas will take the third-highest amount with them in the league, $25.4 million.

This figure will be adjusted once incentive clauses (likely to be earned, not likely to be earned) from 2020 contracts are calculated.

The 2021 cap amount has not yet been decided. Last year, the league negotiated with the NFLPA that, in anticipation of lost money from having no or limited fans attending games, that they needed to set a floor for how low the cap could go, as it’s based on a percentage of revenue. That number was set at $175 million. The 2020 cap was over $198 million and the 2021 cap was projected to be at least $210 million.

In recent months, a number of $195 million has been floated as a potential landing spot for 2021 as the league added two extra playoff games this year and will add a 17th regular season game for all 32 clubs in 2021.

For Dallas, the rolled over cap space is earmarked on potentially having to place a second-consecutive franchise tag on QB Dak Prescott. Salary cap website Over the Cap has Dallas’ projected cap number for 2021 at $174 million already, and that’s without Prescott on the ledger. A second tag will take up $37.7 million of space.

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Rumored 2021 cap of $195M would allow Cowboys to tag Prescott 2nd time

It seems that the potential rollout of a COVID-19 vaccine is causing optimism across the board, including in the NFL league offices. According to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, the league is anticipating the possibility that stadiums across the league – some empty throughout the entire 2020 season, could be back at full capacity for 2021. With that and the pending new television deals on the horizon, the 32 teams may have more cap space to work with than anticipated.

Coming into the 2020 season, the teams agreed to set a floor for the 2021 salary cap. It would go no lower than $175 million. The cap is set not just by revenue earned, which has taken a tremendous hit with two-thirds empty stadiums. It is also tied into expected revenue. If the league forecasts full stadiums, concessions and game-day merchandise sales to ramp back up in 2021, then they may be able to tweak the cap. For the Cowboys especially, a $195 million expected cap makes a world of difference.

The Cowboys may be able to afford a second-consecutive franchise tag on quarterback Dak Prescott without jettisoning any of their high-value contracts. We’ve covered how the team could be looking at potentially ridding themselves of Jaylon Smith, Ezekiel Elliott or even Amari Cooper’s contracts if they needed to create cap space. While those moves could still happen, it won’t be necessary for the first piece of their 2021 offseason puzzle, retaining Prescott.

Prescott is currently (not) playing under the franchise tag. The deadline to work out a long-term agreement expired in July, meaning the two sides cannot officially negotiate a new deal even though he has nothing else to do but rehab his leg.

While his worth has been proven in his absence, that doesn’t necessarily mean a deal is imminent once they can negotiate again in January. It’s a real possibility Dallas will need to franchise tag him again before the 2021 league year.

That will cost the team $36.9 million in cap space.

The Cowboys have a projected $27.5 million of space if the cap is down to $175 million. If it comes in at $195 million (still well below what was budgeted for), then that gives them $47.5 million in space.

That’s enough that they can proceed to the offseason with Prescott protected and without having to release anyone.

That’s a night and day difference in what they could be forced to do otherwise.

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Saints won’t benefit from NFL adding salary cap space due to COVID-19

The NFL will return salary cap space to teams by postponing signing bonus payouts for opt-outs, but that won’t help the New Orleans Saints.

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NFL teams are about to gain tens of millions of dollars in cap space.

The management council informed clubs that signing bonus proration — not just unearned salary and bonuses — will be removed from the 2020 cap immediately upon notification a player is opting out, per sources

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) August 4, 2020

The NFL is continuing to adjust to the realities of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, with the latest change being a new rule that delays some salary cap accounting for players who are opting out of the 2020 season. Unfortunately for the New Orleans Saints, this doesn’t offer them much breathing-room.

Base salaries for those opt-outs are pushed ahead to the 2021 bookkeeping, and the NFL has decided that prorated signing bonus payments will follow them. But there’s just one snag: neither of the Saints players who have opted out of 2020 had signing bonuses written into their contracts to begin with.

Backup tight ends Cole Wick ($750,000 cap hit for 2020) and Jason Vander Laan ($675,000) each opted out, taking their one-year contracts off the books until 2021. Vander Laan’s contract didn’t qualify as a top-51 salary cap hit anyway, while Wick’s absence promoted a lesser-valued deal into its spot (2019 draft pick Saquan Hampton, who counts for $723,988).

That results in a net savings of just $26,012 for the Saints, who are estimated by Over The Cap as being about $9.05 million underneath the 2020 salary cap. That’s including their recently-signed draft class and any savings from Sunday’s wave of roster cuts, in which the Saints opted out of their contracts with players like Taylor Stallworth and Tommylee Lewis.

Now, sure: the Saints could get a big boost to their salary cap outlook if more players opt out. But the loss of leadership and playmaking ability felt on the field from, say, Malcolm Jenkins opting out of the season wouldn’t outweigh the salary cap savings (roughly $2.6 million).

The deadline for players to decide whether to opt out is Thursday, Aug. 6 at 3 p.m. CT. Fans should be rooting for players to make the best decisions for themselves and their families. If the Saints are able to pick up some more spending money with big free agents still available, well, then that’s just lagniappe.

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Huge contracts for edge rushers complicate things for the Steelers and T.J. Watt

The pressure is on for the Steelers to offer outside linebacker T.J. Watt a historic contract.

Despite so much financial uncertainty in the current pandemic climate, NFL teams are throwing money around without hesitation.

The Browns and Chargers recently doled out historic contracts for their top edge rushers, which could make things complicated for the Steelers and edge T.J. Watt as they approach contract negotiations. Defensive end Myles Garrett got the money train rolling by being the highest-paid defensive end… for all of 13 days. Joey Bosa topped that on July 29. The bar has now been set for what is expected to be an unprecedented contract extension.

Though the Steelers are looking down the barrel of a delicate cap situation (they are currently $18 million in the red for 2021), Watt’s contract doesn’t expire until 2022. There’s no sense of urgency as Watt’s fifth-year option was exercised in April.

If Watt is extended next offseason, Ben Roethlisberger’s hefty pact will be off the books (his current contract expires after the 2021 season), and there will be more wiggle room by the time Watt’s contract balloons in 2022.

Watt is the most central figure of the Steelers defensive future, and there’s no question that a history-making contract is in the works.

Currently, the highest-paid edge rusher is Bears outside linebacker Khalil Mack who signed a six-year contract valued at $141 million ($90 million in guarantees) in 2018. Pittsburgh could make Watt a Steeler for life with a six-year extension, as he’ll be 33 by the time it expires.

Salary-cap info courtesy of Spotrac.

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How much cap space do the Panthers have going into 2020 training camp?

With training camp set to begin later this week, let’s take a look at the team’s updated salary cap picture.

It took a while, but the Carolina Panthers now have their entire 2020 NFL draft class under contract.

With training camp set to begin later this week, let’s take a look at the team’s updated salary cap picture.

According to Over the Cap, the Panthers currently have $10,072,824 in space remaining for this season. Only 12 teams have less. That’s not a whole lot of room to add talent at positions of need like tight end and cornerback, let alone if somebody important currently on the roster gets injured.

This is 2020, so naturally it gets worse from here, too.

Previously, we were expecting a significant raise in the team’s salary cap space for 2021 (up to a maximum of $90 million) with a lot of dead weight coming off the books. Unfortunately, due to a projected massive shortfall in revenue this year because of the pandemic, the Panthers and every other team will be going into a much leaner environment.

If the salary cap ceiling winds up being $175 million next year, Carolina would have just $9,371,349 left if they carry over their current estimated cap room, per OTC.

Hopefully the revenue drop is not as bad as projected and the cuts won’t be as deep next year. If not, the front office will lose a valuable tool as they begin phase two of the rebuilding period.

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The Pittsburgh Steelers are in a heap of trouble if the salary cap goes down

If 2020 team revenues take a nosedive, so could the 2021 salary cap which would spell trouble for the Steelers.

I would not want to be general manager Kevin Colbert right now.

To tag Bud Dupree, sign three free agents (Stefen Wisniewski, Derek Watt, Chris Wormley) and still be cap-compliant in 2020, the Steelers pushed $21 million of salary into the next season.

Pushing money from one year to the next is nothing new in the NFL and especially not for the Steelers. It’s part of the salary cap game to restructure contracts to be at or under the cap without players they need and want winding up casualties.

However, that money was pushed with the understanding that there would be a substantial cap increase in 2021.

Of course, no one knows the effect that the COVID-19 pandemic will have on the NFL and its salary cap just yet, but the potential implications paint an ugly picture.

The current salary cap is set at $198.2 million. Historically, the cap has increased by $10 million or more per season. Per Over The Cap, the projected salary cap for 2021 is an estimated $215 million. But that projection is contingent on the league operating as usual with a full 17-game schedule and stadiums at full capacity.

The salary cap for the following season is based on the income that the teams earn during a league year. While previous years’ salary caps have been limited to defined gross revenues (money earned from national television contracts, ticket sales, and NFL merchandise sales), the new collective bargaining agreement was expanded to include all revenues. All revenues incorporate ticket sales, luxury box suites and premium seating, local and national broadcasting royalties, concessions, parking, local advertising, stadium leasing, and merchandising.

On a recent episode of The Adam Schefter Podcast, Schefter broke it down like this:

“Now I want people to think about this going forward — because it is something that the NFL and the NFLPA soon is going to have to be thinking about — and that is if there are no fans in the stands this season that would equate essentially to about on average roughly $100 million less in revenue per team for each of the 32 NFL teams in the NFL. If we multiply that $100 million by the 32 we get $3.2 billion in lost revenue, and why is that a big deal? Because the salary cap is based off the total revenue that comes in…

“So if there is $3.2 billion in less revenue, which is a rough number… but well within the range that is expected and as other people pointed out there are other financial losses as well, we are looking, potentially, at the salary cap dropping in 2021 by $70 to $80 million.”

As Schefter speculates, if games are played without fans in the stands or only a percentage of fans, revenue will be significantly impacted, and the salary cap for 2021 could take a massive hit. An even worse scenario is if the season is canceled. I’m not going to pretend like I know how players’ 2020 salaries would be affected if no games are played and how that even would roll into 2021. But I do know that the Steelers are in a heap of trouble if the salary cap is reduced in 2021.

Let’s say that the cap drops by $80 million in 2021. That would put the salary cap at roughly $118 million. That’s still a ton of money, right? Currently, the Steelers total cap liabilities are at $187 million for next year.

Gulp.

And that’s without taking into account the money they will need to pay to any players they want to save from becoming free agents next year. Among the laundry list of players are unrestricted free agents JuJu Smith-Schuster, James Conner, Cam Heyward, Bud Dupree, and Mike Hilton.

I’m just glad I’m not in Colbert’s shoes.

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Philadelphia Eagles among NFL teams that would be most affected by reduced salary cap in 2021

Eagles named a loser of 2020 offseason because of salary cap issues

The Philadelphia Eagles are banking on the 2020 NFL season going off without a hitch and being uber-successful because the financial implications are severe for Howie Roseman.

The Eagles currently lead the NFL in contracts that average $10 million or more and any looming salary cap issues could set the franchise back.

Per Over The Cap, the Eagles are set to be $50.6 million over the salary cap in 2021, with the next closest team, the New Orleans Saints, only projected to be over the cap by $9.5 million.

In 2021, that number will jump to 12 or more players making $10+ million or more as well.

The 2021 NFL salary cap could be impacted by the Covid-19 outbreak.

If the league and TV partners bring in less revenue due to games either being canceled or no fans in attendance, the salary cap could drop significantly to the tune of “$30 to $80 million” less per team.

The Eagles are currently scheduled to pay out $263.3 million in 2021 and if they were forced to reduce that space to about $210 million, it would likely require the restructuring of several big-named contracts while likely moving on from DeSean Jackson, Alshon Jeffery, Marquise Goodwin and a few more.

Having to reduce to cap to $175 million could be catastrophic for an Eagles team will have to deal with Carson Wentz’s extension and huge salaries for players like Fletcher Cox, Darius Slay, Brandon Brooks, Lane Johnson, and Javon Hargrave.

The Eagles would be joined in salary cap hell by the Saints, Falcons, and Steelers and explained by Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap, the NFL will get a financial bump from a 17-game season in 2021, but any loss in cap space could be disastrous for the Eagles.

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How would reduced 2021 salary cap impact the Miami Dolphins’ rebuild?

The Miami Dolphins’ rebuild received a big boost this offseason when the Dolphins poured in heavy amounts of free agent spending into the roster — allowing the Dolphins to add some critical names to the depth chart in an effort to assemble a team capable of contending in 2020. The Dolphins offered an annual average salary in excess of $10M per season to DE Shaq Lawson, OG Ereck Flowers, LB Kyle Van Noy and CB Byron Jones in free agency, with Jones receiving a record setting contract for cornerback salary.

This team means business.

But how will the potential impact of lost revenue from the NFL in 2020 impact the Dolphins’ rebuild? If the league decides to play this season without fans in the stands, the NFL could see their revenue sharing pool dwindle and one key side effect of such a measure would be a reduced salary cap in 2021. Will the 2020 spending come back to bite the Dolphins in the event that the league takes such measures?

Not necessarily. The Dolphins are scheduled to hold 55 players under contract for the 2021 season at this point in time. Among the key players currently scheduled to hit free agency next offseason, the Dolphins must be wary of LB Raekwon McMillan, RB Matt Breida and DL Davon Godchaux. Those players aside, Miami will certainly miss QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, who is also in a contract year but has been set up to phase out of the starting job and presumably out of Miami all together as he nears 40 years of age.

With the 55 players under contract and just a few key free agents to worry about, the Dolphins are estimated to enter next offseason with over $57.5M in cap space if the salary cap is not impacted. If the NFL is forced to make concessions there in order to compensate for lost revenue in 2020, the Dolphins should ultimately be a team that doesn’t seen much issue in compensating. The team may have to shift their guarantees distribution to potentially resign McMillan, Godchaux and potentially Breida but none of the three figures to be a premiere free agent and will command crippling cash commitments.

And with just under $9M in total roster bonus, option & workout bonus commitments for 2021, the Dolphins aren’t going to see a ton of extra cash guarantees as hurdles to navigate manipulating the cap. Compare that to some of the other teams across the league, such as Philadelphia ($13.6M in roster bonuses, $17.6M in option bonuses, $1.6M in workout bonuses and an additional $20.5M in deferred prior guarantees via restructured contracts) and Pittsburgh ($16.5M in roster bonuses and another $29.5M in deferred prior guarantees via restructured contracts) and it is an easy sell that the Dolphins will have the needed flexibility to take reduced cap in stride.

It may result in a stringent 2021 offseason — but if that’s the case the entire market will be withered and Miami should still have the opportunity to stay in the game for any key free agents they may be interested in, knowing full well that the year one commitments are going to be secondary to the long-term cash. That will be a slippery slope for Miami to navigate, but the early returns with Chris Grier in charge of the cap seem to suggest he deserves trust to find the right balance.