Report: Salary cap likely to come in at $182M-$183M

The legal tampering period for the NFL free agency is set to begin in just three weeks on March 15, and that means that Monday is the last day before teams see the fifteen day window for using a tag on players open. Beginning Tuesday teams may apply the franchise or transition tag to their own impending free agents, and while the tag is great for retaining players, it’s not exactly great for the salary cap. Specifically, in a season in which the salary cap is set to drop significantly and many teams don’t have the cap space to make use of a franchise or transition tag, it becomes a non-issue for many teams.

However, with that said, the latest reports Sunday have the salary cap coming in lower than the 2020 cap, but above the minimum floor the league and the union have set.

So, while ProFootballTalk has been sort of all over the map in terms of where the salary cap is expected to come in, it’s looking more and more like the $180M-$185M range is where things will settle. This has become the likelihood over the past few weeks, as the uncertainty regarding the revenue situation in 2021 and concerns over whether there would be fans back in the stands appears to have been diminished by the fact that the league broadcast contracts are about to be renewed and bring about massive revenue increases.

What exactly a cap in the $182M-$183M range means for the Seattle Seahawks is a question that will be answered in the coming days here at Field Gulls. The Hawks may not necessarily need to make moves to come into compliance prior to March 17, but would need to do so in order to go after outside free agents after tendering its exclusive rights and restricted free agents. That means that even though there are nearly seven months until the team takes the field in a meaningful game, there will be plenty of news surrounding the Hawks in the coming weeks.