Report: NFL sets minimum for 2021 salary cap

Free agency is less than a month away, with the new league year set to start on March 17, and even with roughly half the league looking at being at or over the salary cap for 2021, the league had yet to provide an estimate to teams on the cap. That changed on Thursday, however, as the league informed teams of what the minimum for the cap would be for the upcoming season.

With a cap floor now set at a minimum of $180M, it opens things up for teams to begin to maneuver and plan with a little more certainty going forward. While teams like the New Orleans Saints and Philadelphia Eagles still have significant decisions and moves that will need to be made, the Seattle Seahawks are roughly right at the $180M threshold once accounting for filling out the roster and tendering exclusive rights and restricted free agents. The team will certainly need to make some moves in the coming weeks, but the extra breathing room above the COVID floor of $175M which had been anticipated in recent weeks now exists in certainty.

Now it’s a matter of seeing how teams and front offices, including Pete Carroll and John Schneider of the Seahawks, decide to create cap space for this season.

UPDATE:

Here is the full memo sent out by the league.