NFL News NFL Cap Increases by $22M for 2025

[RobertWeathers]

This is going to shock people with this list. My top 5 drafted/undrafted CB's in the BB era:

1. JC Jackson. He lead the league in INT's and pass breakups since his time as a Patriot. Made the Pro Bowl and was 2nd team All Pro in 2021. He was a very good CB before he opted for surgery right before the season he signed with LA. That was a big mistake for him waiting so long. Then the Chargers used him as the scapegoat when the team doctors botched his rehab clearing him way too early. I didn't need to be a Doctor to figure that out when Mac Jones took just as long on sprain as JC later did surgery. He could barely run and was never the same.

2. Asante Samuel. He was good as a reserve in 2003 and 2004, but he was horrible as a starter in 2005 regularly getting torched by the better WR's in the league. 2006 and 2007 were his breakout years. He'd easily be #1 and have the keys to the city if weren't for a few plays late in SB42.

3. Christian Gonzalez. Made 2nd team All Pro in his first full season as a starter. He will probably end up #1 soon.

4. Malcolm Butler. He was really solid as Revis' replacement in 2015. His biggest issue was that he couldn't make plays. He had the Ellis Hobbs syndrome where he'd be in position to break up a pass or even get an INT, but the opposing player would outmuscle him for the ball.

5. Logan Ryan. Very solid #2 CB. His best moment was getting flagged for the crotch crab celebration on an INT return for a TD.

Honorable mention: Jonathan Jones.

Yea no need to nit pick on your order. Malcolm, Gonzo, A$ante, and JC all made All-Pro at one time or another..... FWIW I had Logan at #6 but felt JJ had the better career here.

I agree on Gonzo climbing the rankings. At this rate he could be the best in the league.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Yea no need to nit pick on your order. Malcolm, Gonzo, A$ante, and JC all made All-Pro at one time or another..... FWIW I had Logan at #6 but felt JJ had the better career here.

I agree on Gonzo climbing the rankings. At this rate he could be the best in the league.

I forgot Malcolm made the Pro Bowl in his first year starting and All Pro in 2016 in his second year. That makes it really hard to rank.

 

[Ross12]

From the start of the league year through cutdowns, only the top 51 salaries count against the salary cap. So, for example, the FB they signed recently counts for essentially $0 against the salary cap. [If they gave him a signing bonus, that does count against the cap.]

Yep, though for all intents and purposes it's the same thing - whether you are under top 51 rules or not, if you cut a guy with a $1M salary and no guarantees because you signed a different guy for $3M, then you don't lose $3M in cap space, you only lose $2M (assuming it's not past week 1).

My main point being that most of the signed players will have first-year cap hits of $3M-8M, so if all of those acquisitions get $1M value removed because they are bouncing someone else off the roster, you can really make a lot of acquisitions with $125M+ in space.

 

[Vindicate]

This is going to shock people with this list. My top 5 drafted/undrafted CB's in the BB era:

1. JC Jackson. He lead the league in INT's and pass breakups since his time as a Patriot. Made the Pro Bowl and was 2nd team All Pro in 2021. He was a very good CB before he opted for surgery right before the season he signed with LA. That was a big mistake for him waiting so long. Then the Chargers used him as the scapegoat when the team doctors botched his rehab clearing him way too early. I didn't need to be a Doctor to figure that out when Mac Jones took just as long on sprain as JC later did surgery. He could barely run and was never the same.

2. Asante Samuel. He was good as a reserve in 2003 and 2004, but he was horrible as a starter in 2005 regularly getting torched by the better WR's in the league. 2006 and 2007 were his breakout years. He'd easily be #1 and have the keys to the city if weren't for a few plays late in SB42.

3. Christian Gonzalez. Made 2nd team All Pro in his first full season as a starter. He will probably end up #1 soon.

4. Malcolm Butler. He was really solid as Revis' replacement in 2015. His biggest issue was that he couldn't make plays. He had the Ellis Hobbs syndrome where he'd be in position to break up a pass or even get an INT, but the opposing player would outmuscle him for the ball.

5. Logan Ryan. Very solid #2 CB. His best moment was getting flagged for the crotch crab celebration on an INT return for a TD.

Honorable mention: Jonathan Jones.

Interesting notes about Butler. He definitely didn't have a lot of INT's but he was scrappy as **** and broke up quite a few passes. Never ever quit until the whistle. His play against Odell was pretty memorable. He had quite a few in 2015. His INT count never passed 4, though.

 

[Toofy]

Interesting notes about Butler. He definitely didn't have a lot of INT's but he was scrappy as **** and broke up quite a few passes. Never ever quit until the whistle. His play against Odell was pretty memorable. He had quite a few in 2015. His INT count never passed 4, though.

We don't get 1 ring without butler. In my book that's difficult to be beat . He will eternally be a patriot hall of famer.

 

[TomPatriot]

We don't get 1 ring without butler. In my book that's difficult to be beat . He will eternally be a patriot hall of famer.

Plus, pretty good chance Pats win if he plays CB in SB 52.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Yeah, all of those 10-15 teams in tougher cap shape will be cutting players to get in better shape, or create more space to try to sign a big name or two themselves, which will increase the overall quality and depth of this free agent class. That's good for the Pats, who likely want to sign a lot of mid-level guys to bolster their overall roster.

I don’t want mid level guys, I want really good players. The only way they are going to become a contender anytime soon is by adding really good players at every opportunity. They can worry about depth when their wins and losses really matter, right now they need to add quality. I would be happy with 5-6 really good free agents, and 2-3 in the draft. And they should take the same approach next year. After that they can start worrying about depth.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Oh he knows.. he just likes to point out possible game changers. but I've just come to the realization that this roster needs to be upgraded all around.. except QB.. give me 5 competent OL..& some DL that can actually get to the passer. A CB other than Gonzo that can challenge WRs..

No, he doesn’t know. He wanted Harrison Jr. over Maye and acknowledged at the time that he thinks WR is the most important position on the field.

 

[Huckleberry1]

no... the cap estimated that are on OTC were fairly accurate... @Ross12 pointed out that they were using an estimated 279m cap for this year... so it is basically in the range of what we were thinking... plus or minus a few million dollars...

I didn’t realize they had done the cap numbers proactively. That explains the discrepancy between the 112 and 135 cap numbers for them.

 

[VJCPatriot]

The league was way better when teams actually had to manage the cap and mediocre players weren't getting insane contracts like Robert Hunt last year. Seriously, who the f*** is Robert Hunt? Back in the day, this would be a cap crippling contract.

If the NFL had a hard cap like the NBA, it would help stop this nonsense.

This is what the players negotiated for. When NFL revenues go up, so does the cap so that players can keep getting their piece of the pie.

We just need to get used to these rising salaries. The owners pay the checks anyways, they wouldn't keep doing it if their own profits didn't increase.

 

[lancerman]

This is what the players negotiated for. When NFL revenues go up, so does the cap so that players can keep getting their piece of the pie.

We just need to get used to these rising salaries. The owners pay the checks anyways, they wouldn't keep doing it if their own profits didn't increase.

The average player has a 3.3 year long career. The entire point of the NFLPA is to find ways to get them as much money as humanly possible in that short time frame. Part of that is making sure there is a mechanism to easily increase the cap with revenue. And every team accounts for that when they do contracts.

That's why when people see a big longterm contract and call it an overpay, it almost always becomes a bargain by the end. Mahomes did the Chiefs the biggest solid in the world signing a 10 year contract. He still hasn't been over 17% of their cap. The biggest years are coming up and he still will only be at most 23% before the cap increases in a year or two, and then in the end he's probably going to be something like 10% to 12% of the cap hit for the team for like his last 4 contracted years.

That's just the game you have to play.

It's actually the one downside of the "letting a guy go a year early than a year late". If you are willing to have them locked in an extra year or two, you could be screwed if they decline, but if they don't, you basically are getting them at huge value by the end.

 

[Real fan 02]

No, he doesn’t know. He wanted Harrison Jr. over Maye and acknowledged at the time that he thinks WR is the most important position on the field.

PF2 knows.. LOL.. he does things to get a rise put of posters.. it's all in fun though..

 

[Ross12]

I don’t want mid level guys, I want really good players. The only way they are going to become a contender anytime soon is by adding really good players at every opportunity. They can worry about depth when their wins and losses really matter, right now they need to add quality. I would be happy with 5-6 really good free agents, and 2-3 in the draft. And they should take the same approach next year. After that they can start worrying about depth.

You need both. I'm not saying to avoid the quality FAs in favor of the decent depth vets, I'm saying do both. Sign 5 high priced FAs at positions of high need, and then also sign 6-7 mid-level veterans to fill out the roster and create some depth. They have tons and tons of money, they can afford all of that, especially when those mid-level veterans are replacing street-level guys and they only take up another net $1-2M on the cap each.

 

[Wozzy]

How does this screw the Pats exactly, the cap goes up, so do salaries. Really want some free agents…. pay more. You have the most money to spend.

They should be targeting value veterans instead of high ticket items anyway.

 

[lancerman]

How does this screw the Pats exactly, the cap goes up, so do salaries. Really want some free agents…. pay more. You have the most money to spend.

They should be targeting value veterans instead of high ticket items anyway.

It only affects us in the sense that teams occasionally get breathing room to keep some players and it limits the free agency pool. Last year what killed us was that a ton of star players that were going to hit the market ended up getting an extension. So it’s not that we weren’t willing, we had a no limit credit card in a store where all the top items were already gone. Then coupled with a few players that we did go after deciding not to come here regardless of price, and you have a mess.

Shouldn’t matters as much this year

 

[Ross12]

Just as an exercise I used the tools on spotrac.com to simulate managing this roster in free agency. I made these moves:

Cut:
WR Kendrick Bourne
LB Jalahni Tavai (post June-1st)

Traded away:
RB Rhamondre Stevenson

Re-signed:
LB Christian Ellis (RFA)
CB Alex Austin (ERFA)
DL Daniel Ekuale

Traded for:
WR Cooper Kupp

Signed:
DE Josh Sweat
LT Alaric Jackson
LB Nick Bolton
CB Charvarius Ward
FS Jevon Holland
RB Najee Harris
DL B.J. Hill
DE Dante Fowler Jr
TE Tyler Conklin
WR Darius Slayton
T Justin Skule

Assuming Kupp comes on a re-worked deal with the Rams eating a good bit of his 2025 salary, the Pats would likely still have between $55-75M in 2025 cap space left even after all of these deals.

This is mainly to demonstrate that you can sign guys of all caliber, fill a lot of gaps, and yet there's so much cap that you'd be left with a good chunk remaining.

 

[Grogan14]

Patriots will still have major challenges attracting top tier UFAs to this team.
Vrabel and Maye do not substantially change that yet.

Rely on trades
Crazy overpays
Find under rated gems

 

[Grogan14]

Patriots will still have major challenges attracting top tier UFAs to this team.
Vrabel and Maye do not substantially change that yet.

Rely on trades
Crazy overpays
Find under rated gems

For example. Cowboys can create 60 must in cap space just by restructuring Prescott and Lamb.
So many teams will have unexpected cap space and let's face it. Pats are still a last place team....Free agent interest in coming to Foxboro will be tepid. If you want Kupper or Samuels trade for them

 

[Real fan 02]

The Pats would be in better shape if those 2 dunces just took Mconkey last draft.

Even McConkey would have had to survive 5 games with Brissett..

 

[Real fan 02]

This is going to shock people with this list. My top 5 drafted/undrafted CB's in the BB era:

1. JC Jackson. He lead the league in INT's and pass breakups since his time as a Patriot. Made the Pro Bowl and was 2nd team All Pro in 2021. He was a very good CB before he opted for surgery right before the season he signed with LA. That was a big mistake for him waiting so long. Then the Chargers used him as the scapegoat when the team doctors botched his rehab clearing him way too early. I didn't need to be a Doctor to figure that out when Mac Jones took just as long on sprain as JC later did surgery. He could barely run and was never the same.

2. Asante Samuel. He was good as a reserve in 2003 and 2004, but he was horrible as a starter in 2005 regularly getting torched by the better WR's in the league. 2006 and 2007 were his breakout years. He'd easily be #1 and have the keys to the city if weren't for a few plays late in SB42.

3. Christian Gonzalez. Made 2nd team All Pro in his first full season as a starter. He will probably end up #1 soon.

4. Malcolm Butler. He was really solid as Revis' replacement in 2015. His biggest issue was that he couldn't make plays. He had the Ellis Hobbs syndrome where he'd be in position to break up a pass or even get an INT, but the opposing player would outmuscle him for the ball.

5. Logan Ryan. Very solid #2 CB. His best moment was getting flagged for the crotch crab celebration on an INT return for a TD.

Honorable mention: Jonathan Jones.

Brilliant post. Although we already know Gonzo is CB1 and there isn't anyone on the team even close to his skills set at the CB position. The offseason is going to more interesting than we may realize lots of big names will probably be cut or made available.

Saw jaire Alexander may be a cap cut.. if so.. please go after him.