NFL Salary Cap Projected to Shoot Past $300 Million in 2026

The cap is projected to be nearly $100 million above where it was as recently as 2022.

The NFL’s new salary cap opens up room for owners like Jerry Jones to add talent in 2026. | Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images

Business isn’t slowing down for the NFL anytime soon, and as a result, teams will have some extra money to spend in 2026.

As first reported by Tom Pelissero of NFL Media, the league has informed teams that it projects the 2026 salary cap to fall in the range of $301.2 million to $305.7 million, an increase of between $22 and $27 million from the 2025 cap of $279.2. It is a similar rise to that between the ’24 and ‘25 seasons of $23.8 million.

As Pelissero notes, football business is thriving in recent years, to the extent that the cap will be near $100 million above where it was just a few seasons ago in 2022 ($208.2 million).

The NFL salary cap broke $100 million for the first time between 2005 and ‘06, when it rose 19.9% from $85.5 million to $102 million. It took 16 years for the number to break $200 million in ‘22. Now, it appears that the cap will smash through the $300 million mark just four years later, with the cap going up by an average of 10.7% over the last five years per Spotrac (with an estimated mark of $303.45 million for next season).

NFL teams by projected salary cap space for 2026

All data is from Spotrac, using the teams’ 51 most expensive contracts. The salary cap space is used with Spotrac’s estimated cap of $303.45 million for 2026. Italics indicate a team projected to be over the upcoming cap.

Franchise	Roster Salary Total	Estimated Cap Space
Titans	$222,603,969	$99,041,638
Raiders	$224,957,777	$87,821,212
Chargers	$218,366,454	$87,235,325
Jets	$241,356,264	$82,650,889
Seahawks	$242,381,734	$75,597,972
Commanders	$257,251,088	$67,994,031
Bengals	$259,127,166	$54,600,496
Rams	$265,322,346	$46,762,912
Steelers	$275,399,121	$44,958,173
Cardinals	$280,740,673	$35,673,790
Colts	$270,338,142	$34,952,488
Patriots	$315,199,052	$33,175,816
Broncos	$276,091,310	$27,993,090
Falcons	$277,100,694	$27,718,601
49ers	$294,640,471	$25,538,414
Ravens	$290,015,788	$22,673,001
Buccaneers	$303,559,989	$14,479,885
Panthers	$300,570,078	$11,687,593
Eagles	$303,768,144	$10,024,036
Giants	$297,767,430	$7,030,099
Packers	$315,716,309	$-4,344,831
Texans	$312,322,225	$-5,172,142
Lions	$329,954,216	$-7,416,960
Jaguars	$316,997,629	$-9,166,552
Bills	$311,473,061	$-9,882,073
Bears	$318,396,057	$-10,688,349
Browns	$342,883,086	$-19,541,898
Dolphins	$327,315,449	$-23,144,443
Cowboys	$357,152,630	$-31,339,252
Vikings	$357,321,452	$-40,632,414
Saints	$352,314,350	$-41,264,364
Chiefs	$358,619,579	$-57,583,869

The Saints have been in salary cap trouble for years now, and still have the league’s highest dead cap number of over $90 million for 2026, per Spotrac. The Chiefs, the team projected to be furthest over the cap, actually have the lowest mark at $215,642 in dead cap.

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