Looking Ahead To 2021 Salary Cap Space

With the Covid opt outs and 2020 draft picks now accounted for I thought it was a good time to take a peek ahead to 2021 and see how team’s salary cap situations may look next year. The chart provides two cap spaces- one in the event of a $175 million salary cap in 2021 and the second in the event of a $190 million cap in 2021. The cap space estimate is based on current cap figures on the books in 2021, signings of enough minimum salary players to reach 51 players, and carryover based on current cap space for 2020 minus a $5 million placeholder for in-season costs. Note that this is not the salary cap health we talked about before (that will be a post after cutdowns) which takes into account possible cuts/restructures just with the roster as is.

2021 Salary Cap Space Estimates

TeamEstimated Cap Space
($175M Cap Limit)
Estimated Cap Space
($190M Cap Limit)
Colts$86,201,931$101,201,931
Patriots$65,208,537$80,208,537
Jaguars$59,128,585$74,128,585
Jets$56,601,575$71,601,575
Washington$49,559,205$64,559,205
Bengals$35,605,952$50,605,952
Chargers$34,136,482$49,136,482
Broncos$33,236,645$48,236,645
Browns$29,129,397$44,129,397
Dolphins$26,153,421$41,153,421
Ravens$25,609,647$40,609,647
Bills$25,570,806$40,570,806
Giants$22,976,708$37,976,708
Seahawks$22,246,774$37,246,774
Cardinals$18,052,445$33,052,445
Lions$13,000,146$28,000,146
Buccaneers$12,327,839$27,327,839
49ers$12,043,224$27,043,224
Panthers$10,197,935$25,197,935
Titans$7,549,402$22,549,402
Packers$31,284$15,031,284
Rams($1,087,452)$13,912,548
Cowboys($2,545,086)$12,454,914
Vikings($3,185,885)$11,814,115
Bears($4,058,853)$10,941,147
Texans($8,587,737)$6,412,263
Chiefs($18,957,201)($3,957,201)
Raiders($20,237,903)($5,237,903)
Steelers($22,481,297)($7,481,297)
Falcons($43,898,458)($28,898,458)
Eagles($72,140,588)($57,140,588)
Saints($75,415,139)($60,415,139)

Obviously many teams will have some work to do as the average cap space of $11.6M and $26.6M would be the lowest numbers in recent memory, but many teams do have some levers to pull if necessary for next year. That said there could be a situation where we see a lot of 1 year contracts next year and a great deal of market control coming from just a handful of teams next season.

Add OTC to Your Google News Feed to stay up to date with our updates.