Unfortunately, it is likely to be a while before we find out what the official salary cap number projections are for the 2024 NFL season, according to a Sunday morning report from Adam Schefter of ESPN.
According to Schefter, last week The NFL Management Council sent a memo to teams stating that, due to “open matters” that the NFL and NFLPA still are addressing and trying to resolve, there will be no projections for the 2024 salary cap until early January. The memo also reportedly said that as soon as the two sides reach an agreement, the 2024 salary cap projections will be released to teams for planning purposes.
As Schefter wrote Sunday morning in his report, the salary cap for the 2023 season came in at $224.8 million. That number typically increases anywhere from $12 million to $15 million, which would make the 2024 cap in the $240 million range.
It would be quite disappointing if the 2024 NFL salary cap number comes in right at $240 million. Why? Because earlier projections from Over the Cap and former NFL agents have the 2024 cap number projected to be around $256 million. In fact, the way-too-early 2024 salary cap look ahead that I did for the Steelers during their bye week was based off of the league’s cap number being $256 million next season.
Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network reported Sunday morning that revenue projections could support a 2024 salary cap well above the $240 million range. That report is way more in line with other models that I have been seeing. It would also make a 2024 salary cap number of $256 million, or perhaps slightly higher, very believable.
Teams will need to be salary cap compliant for the 2024 league year starting at 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday, March 13. That’s obviously more than three months away at this point. Regardless, we should begin to receive better cap number projections for 2024 not long after New Year’s Day, and definitely by the time Super Bowl LVIII gets underway in Las Vegas on February 11, 2024.
I will be updating my Steelers 2024 salary cap projections right after the team ends their 2023 season, which right now looks like it could be four weeks from now thanks to back-to-back home losses to the Arizona Cardinals and New England Patriots.
