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According to ESPN’s Dan Graziano, the NFL has set a limit of $208.2 million for the 2022 salary cap. This does not mean that the cap is $208.2 million, it just means that would be the ceiling. As Graziano notes, that is a 14-percent increase from this year and if 2021 revenues “call for a cap” figure higher than that, the money will be used to “pay back the $17 million in player benefits that were canceled” because of last year’s circumstances.
Per source, the NFL and the NFLPA have agreed to a salary cap ceiling of $208.2 million for the 2022 season. If it gets there, that would be a 14 percent increase over the 2021 cap of $182.5 million. (more)
— Dan Graziano (@DanGrazianoESPN) May 26, 2021
At OVERTHECAP, they’ve established that the Rams have $211.2 million in liabilities for 2022, meaning that they’ll need to make some moves just to get under the cap maximum. It could turn out that the cap is more like $205 million, in which case LA would have even more work to do.
Big salary cap news
— Brad Spielberger (@PFF_Brad) May 26, 2021
Four teams currently project to have more active cap spending than the $208.2M ceiling:
Packers
Cowboys
Rams
Saints
A 14% increase would be more than double the average increase from 2013-2020 https://t.co/eY7dH3IEja
The Rams could save money a few ways, including an extension for Matthew Stafford, restructuring Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey again, or releasing Andrew Whitworth to save $13 million. Coincidentally, I wrote about the Rams’ 2022 salary cap situation this morning when I discussed possible extension candidates.
Now we probably know what the maximum cap number will be, at least.