The official salary cap number for the 2022 NFL league year has been made official on Monday, and it’s exactly the amount that has been expected for several months.
According to several reports on Monday, the NFL’s 2022 salary cap will be $208.2 million. Last May, the NFL and NFLPA have agreed to a $208.2 million salary cap ceiling for the 2022 season. At that time, there was no cap floor established. The sides agreed last August to spread the COVID-related league revenue shortfall from 2020 over several years, and the resulted in the cap number dropping to $182.5 million in 2021.
According to several December reports, the NFL’s salary cap was still on course to get back on track in 2022. Reports at that time indicated that 2022’s cap number was expected to reach the $208.2 million maximum agreed upon by the NFL and NFL Players Association last May.
For 2021, the salary cap was $182.5 million per team, down from $198.2 million in 2020. It would have perhaps been higher than that had the NFL and NFLPA not agreed in August 2020 to spread an anticipated multibillion-dollar revenue shortfall from the COVID-19 pandemic over several years.
So, where do the Steelers sit currently when it comes to a 2022 salary cap number of $208.2 million? Well, when you factor in the current unused amount of 2021 cap space that the team rolled over, the Steelers are now projected to be $28,811,582 under the cap right now. That number not only includes the recent $80,000 credit the team received, but also includes the offseason workout bonus placeholder amount of $849,600, which the league has yet to put into place.
That $28,811,582 number also includes the full dead money amounts associated with the recently voided contracts of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, and tight end Eric Ebron. The NFLPA has yet to fully account for the entire dead money amounts in their numbers.
The 2022 NFL league year will start on March 16 at 4:00 p.m. EST.
