The NFL must have hit some jackpots during the week of the 2024 Super Bowl in Las Vegas.
The salary cap for the 2024 season will undergo a historic increase, set at $255.4 million per team, the league announced Friday.
The new numbers represent an unprecedented increase of $30.6 million year-on-year, making the cap more than double what it was nearly a decade ago ($123 million in 2013).
This figure is about $10 million to $13 million higher than previous estimates, but is due to “full repayments of advances made by clubs and deferred by players during the coronavirus pandemic, as well as an unusual increase in media revenue.” “2024 season,” the league announced.
As part of the approximately 48% of league revenue given to players, an additional $74 million per team will be available in player benefits, including performance-based salary bonuses and allowances for retired players.
“Welcome to a new era of acceptable gambling in the NFL,” said Randy Mueller, a former NFL general manager and analyst for The Athletic. “The players should be grateful.” [commissioner] Roger Goodell appreciated the new international exposure and commitment to the world of gambling. This has increased the player’s pie to unprecedented heights. ”
So what’s the final result?
According to overthecap.com, it’s an especially good time to be a free agent, as more than half of the leagues (17 teams) have at least $30 million in salary cap space and more teams can participate in bidding wars.
This means that market-high trades on some positions may be reset, and rising tides may lift the ships of lower-ranking players.
Take, for example, New York’s most prominent free agent.
The $1 million to $2 million difference in guaranteed money that prevented running back Saquon Barkley and the Giants from agreeing to a contract extension last offseason looks even more like relative peanuts at this point.
If the Giants re-offer Barkley the contract he turned down last August (three years, $33 million, with about $23 million guaranteed), or meet a slightly higher offer, that would be a salary cap hit. The proportion will be smaller. That must have been July of last year.
In fact, all running backs with stalled contract markets could benefit from an influx of resources now that many of the top runners are free agents.
The prices for the franchise, which signed Giants safety Xavier McKinney ($17.1 million) and Jets defensive end Bryce Huff ($21.3 million), aren’t that outrageous considering the new salary cap, either.
The Jets have more wiggle room ($15 million) than expected to offer Huff a contract extension before free agency opens on March 11, but if Huff hits the open market, a competing pass rusher could become a viable option if Huff hits the open market. It also means more money available for luxury items like .
If the Giants place the transition tag on McKinnie, which would keep him eligible to match free agent contract offers, as is under consideration as previously reported by the Post, the cost would be $13.8 million in 2024. It’s far from the highest payout for the position. A market that could grow beyond his current annual high of $19 million.
From a team’s perspective, contracts like the early extension that Giants All-Pro left tackle Andrew Thomas signed through 2029 are more effective as the cap expands and contracts for comparable players expand. It should be a great bargain.
And swallowing a dead cap fee like Giants quarterback Daniel Jones’ $22.2 million if traded or released in 2025 is more manageable when it’s a smaller percentage of the overall cap. Become.
A larger pie should also help players who were on the bubble become salary cap casualties in a situation where teams are looking for additional savings.
It might not save players like Giants guard Mark Glowinski, who lost his starting job after Week 1 last season, but it might not save players like Jets defensive end John Franklin Myers, who lost his starting job after Week 1 of last season. It will be possible to save high-ranking players from the bad side of the numbers game.
The Chiefs were also under cap pressure and could suddenly have room to re-sign both Chris Jones and Rajarius Sneed instead of choosing between two defensive studs in free agency.
A surge in re-signings like this over the next two weeks will thin the free agent pool for teams that need to fill holes on their roster.
