2021 NFL Salary Cap Set at $182.5 Million: What It Means for the Jaguars
After months of great uncertainty surrounding the NFL's salary cap in 2021, the league has now set it at a firm $182.5 million.
Per multiple reports, the league informed teams on Wednesday the cap would be $182.5 million for the 2021 season, a sizable decrease from the $198.2 million cap in 2020. The cap was $188.2 million in 2019 and $177.2 million in 2018, so this is more or less reverting back to before 2020.
Due to the decreased cap, several teams will have to make hard cuts, meaning an influx of veteran players is likely set to hit the market before the start of free agency on March 17.
So, what does the set cap mean for the Jacksonville Jaguars? We now have more clarity on what the Jaguars will be working with next week following the franchise-tagging of left tackle Cam Robinson on Tuesday.
Jacksonville's adjusted salary cap for 2021 is now officially set at $206,970,15 per Spotrac. This takes into account the $182.5 million cap ceiling as well as the carryover money from last year's cap, meaning the Jaguars have even more room to operate than most teams.
Brian McFarland did a wonderful explanation of adjusted salary cap space for BaltimoreRavens.com in 2017.
"The league-wide salary cap for 2017 has been set at $167 million. However, most teams will actual have a salary cap figure that is higher or lower than the $167M. This is what is known as the team's Adjusted Team Cap and includes the league-wide cap, plus any excess cap space carried over from the prior year and also includes the positive or negative incentives adjustment from the prior year. This adjusted team cap then operates as the maximum salary cap amount for the team," McFarland wrote.
Taking into account Robinson's franchise tag, which will cost $13,754,000 the Jaguars now have $70,194,209 in salary cap to attack the first waves of free agency, according to Spotrac. This is the most cap space of any team in the league, which is especially notable considering it factors in Robinson's high cap hit for the 2021 season.
Jacksonville will enter the offseason with a dead cap hit of just $1,374,764 according to Spotrac, a significant decrease from last offseason when the Jaguars were saddled with $49,890,275 in dead cap.
Perhaps no team is more prepared to be players in free agency this season than the Jaguars. Not only are they flushed with cap space, but they are attempting to quickly retool a young and depleted roster after a 1-15 season in 2020.
New head coach Urban Meyer made it clear what his priorities are when it comes to fixing the roster, but he also made it clear that he wasn't comfortable with adding players to the team who they can't get a great feel for.
"Unfortunately, you can’t fly the guys in like the old days and I can’t wait for that to come back. So, you’re talking about organizational decisions made by people there’s chances we have not spent much time with them, and to be honest with you, I don’t feel great about that," Meyer said Tuesday.
"I feel great about the coaches that have done their work behind the scenes digging up or else have had previous experience with them coaching them in the room. We’re probably going to lean on [them] more in that scenario, so I’ve hired a bunch of guys from the NFL that have NFL experience. If they’ve had [experience with] them, I feel much better about someone we just don’t know.”
