If you thought the 2020 NFL season was weird, just wait for 2021. While we all hope that the league won't be as significantly impacted by COVID-19 as it was during a stop-and-start 2020 campaign, one of the financial effects of the pandemic will still be felt next season. The salary cap has been steadily rising over the last decade, but in 2021, the baseline cap number every team starts its offseason with will fall from the previously expected mark of $210 million to a new expectation of $175 million, a 16.7% drop.
Some teams have made preparations in recent weeks for the cap decline, but just about every long-term contract signed over the past few years was structured under the idea that the cap was going to continue rising.