NFL salary cap balloons ahead of 2024 season

The beauty of the NFL offseason is that every fanbase, regardless of how their team finished a season ago, can believe that with the right moves over the next few months, a Super Bowl could be in their future. Whether it comes via free agency, the NFL Draft, or a combination thereof, every team — and every fanbase — has hope this time of year.

Now, each NFL fanbase has over 30 million more reasons to be hopeful.

Or, more accurately, $30 million more reasons.

The NFL confirmed on Friday a massive increase in the salary cap for the 2024 season. As first reported by Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports, the salary cap for the next year has be increased to $255.4 million, an increase of over $30 million from last season’s number.

For reference, the salary cap for the 2014 season, just ten years ago, was $133 million.

In a statement, the league noted that “[t]he unprecedented $30 million increase per club in this year’s salary cap is the result of the full repayment of all amounts advanced by clubs and deferred by the players during the Covid pandemic as well as an extraordinary increase in media revenue for the 2024 season.”

How might this impact teams? Take two of the first three teams in the upcoming NFL Draft, the Washington Commanders and the New England Patriots. According to Spotrac, the updated salary cap means the Commanders have the most cap space available, $96.4 million dollars. The Commanders also have the second-overall pick in the upcoming draft.

As for the Patriots, who pick right behind Washington, they enter the offseason with $86.8 million in cap space.

What can those numbers get you on the open market?

Perhaps a lot of Costco hot dogs ...