And still, the New Orleans Saints are a small country’s GDP away from being under the salary cap.
NFL teams got some good news on Wednesday. They were informed the 2025 salary cap will be between $277.5 million to $281.5 million, well ahead of last year’s figure of $255.4 million according to ESPN’s Dan Graziano.
The news that the cap is going up isn’t unexpected. But the amount it is increasing was a surprise to NFL executives, Graziano said.
With free agency coming up in less than a month, teams have more money than expected to spend on new players or retain their own. For teams like the New England Patriots, who had more than $120 million in projected cap space via Spotrac before the new figures were released, it’s even more to spend on an influx of talent. For a team like the Saints, more than $60 million over the cap, it will help them get under the cap without too many drastic decisions.
All teams get that windfall, so the real winners might be this year’s free agent class. If the Cincinnati Bengals don’t franchise tag Tee Higgins or the Minnesota Vikings don’t keep Sam Darnold, there’s more cap space for each team to get into a bidding war for the few true impact players who might hit the market.
The cap has gone up more than $53 million over the last two years, which has led to salaries taking off. It won’t slow down this offseason either, especially with teams hoping to use their extra space on players who can make a difference.
