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Nfl Salary Cap Projected To Be North Of $300m For First Time Ever

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The shield logo of the National Football League (NFL), as pictured on the field at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA on Dec. 5, 2025. | Cameron Merritt/Taunton Daily Gazette / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Open up the checkbooks, ladies and gentlemen. It was reported on Friday afternoon that the NFL salary cap for 2026 is projected to be north of $300M for the first time ever. To say this is significant is putting it mildly.

NFL salary cap over the years:

2013: $123M
2014: $133M
2015: $143.28M
2016: $155.27M
2017: $167M
2018: $177.2M
2019: $188.2M
2020: $198.2M
2021: $182.5M
2022: $208.2M
2023: $224.8M
2024: $255.4M
2025: $279.2M
2026: $301.2M-$305.7M (projected)

Business is booming. https://t.co/lNPmrwBQq0

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) January 30, 2026

As it has often been said for the last few years, the salary cap is rising at an exponential rate. This year’s cap is projected to be ~$20M more than last year’s, all of that television money has to go somewhere.

At the moment the Dallas Cowboys are technically projected to not have any salary cap space as they are in the red, but we all know that a few restructures will take care of that nicely.

Dallas, and everyone to be clear, will easily be in a position to spend if they want to in free agency or to take care of a massive extension for someone like say George Pickens. Whether or not they do so is always the ultimate question.