Jaguars’ Trent Baalke on NFL’s Increased Cap: ‘I Don’t Think It Really Changes Anything’
Every NFL team is going to have some extra spending money once free agency begins next month, but don't expect that to mean much for the Jacksonville Jaguars and general manager Trent Baalke.
“I don’t think it really changes anything," Baalke said about the NFL's $30 million cap increase.
"Obviously, it affects everybody the same way. It’s not like it creates an advantage or disadvantage for us. No feeling one way or another on it.”
The NFL announced last week the 2024 Salary Cap will be $255.4 million per team. That is a higher bump than most projected, and an increase the NFL has never truly seen.
"The unprecedented $30 million increase per club in this year’s Salary Cap is the result of the full repayment of all amounts advanced by the clubs and deferred by the players during the Covid pandemic as well as an extraordinary increase in media revenue for the 2024 season," the NFL said.
Presently, the Jaguars are sitting at $24,683,167 in available in cap space, which ranks No. 18 in the NFL and far behind the other three teams in the AFC South.
Most of that cap space is likely to go toward the Jaguars' own players, with big-name free agents like Josh Allen and Calvin Ridley set to get paid and a host of other internal free agents like Ezra Cleveland.
“We’re in good cap shape right now. We’re sitting pretty good, I think we’re in the middle to upper tier of the league in terms of cap space available," Baalke said Tuesday at the NFL Scouting Combine.
"We’ve got moves that we can do to create more cap space. We like the position we’re in, we like the flexibility that we have. Again, we’re not going to disclose any of our thoughts right here, but we feel good with where we’re at.”
