NFL Salary Cap Explained: 2026 Cap, Dead Money, Restructures and the Salary Floor (NFL)

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NFL Salary Cap Explained: 2026 Cap, Dead Money, Restructures and the Salary Floor

Nov 11, 2026 • 33 minutes ago

The NFL salary cap for 2026 is $301.2 million per team, the first time the cap has passed $300 million. The league informed clubs of the figure on Feb. 27, 2026, per NFL.com, a $22 million increase over the 2025 cap of $279.2 million. Clubs also fund another $77.6 million per team in player benefits on top of the cap, bringing total player spending to about $378.8 million per club, according to the league's figures as reported by NFL.com and The Associated Press.

Updated for the 2026 season.

What is the NFL salary cap in 2026?

The 2026 cap is $301.2 million per club. In late January 2026 the league had projected a range of $301.2 million to $305.7 million, per NFL.com, so the final number landed at the low end. Teams had to be under the new cap by March 11, 2026, the first day of the league year, the AP reported.

The cap has grown quickly since the pandemic. It fell to $182.5 million in 2021 after the 2020 season was played with few or no fans in stadiums, then climbed by at least $16 million every year after that. The AP noted the cap has risen 40% in five years, with the biggest single jump, about $31 million, coming from 2023 to 2024.

Season	Salary cap per team	Change from prior year
2020	$198.2 million	+$10.0 million
2021	$182.5 million	-$15.7 million
2022	$208.2 million	+$25.7 million
2023	$224.8 million	+$16.6 million
2024	$255.4 million	+$30.6 million
2025	$279.2 million	+$23.8 million
2026	$301.2 million	+$22.0 million

Cap figures are from NFL.com's year-by-year salary cap history; changes are calculated from those figures. The 2019 cap, used for the 2020 change, was $188.2 million.

How is the NFL salary cap calculated?

The formula is set by Article 12 of the 2020 collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and the NFL Players Association. It works in three broad steps.

1. Start with All Revenue

The CBA defines "All Revenues" (AR) as the league's and clubs' revenue from football-related sources, including gate receipts, national broadcast money, concessions, parking, advertising and NFL Ventures revenue. Before each league year, the league and union project AR for the coming season.

2. Set the player share

The players' share, called the Player Cost Amount, is first built from different percentages of each revenue stream: 55% of projected league media revenue, 45% of NFL Ventures and postseason revenue, and 40% of local club revenue. That total is then held inside a band. For the 2021 through 2030 league years, the CBA says the Player Cost Amount cannot exceed 48.5% of projected AR and cannot fall below 48%. In 2020, the first year of the deal, the floor was 47%.

The CBA also includes a "Media Kicker." In a season with a 17-game schedule played under new media contracts whose average annual value rose more than 35% over the old deals, the player share can be increased; under the CBA's illustration table, a 60% increase lifts the player share to 48.5% of AR, with slightly higher figures at larger increases.

3. Subtract benefits and divide by 32

Under Article 12, the salary cap for a league year is the Player Cost Amount minus projected player benefits (pension funding, health insurance, the player annuity, tuition assistance and similar items), divided by the number of clubs. That is why the league reports the cap and the benefits figure separately: in 2026, $301.2 million in cap room plus $77.6 million in benefits per club.

Is the NFL salary cap a hard cap?

Yes. Every club must be under the cap by the first day of the league year (March 11 in 2026, per the AP). Article 13 of the CBA also says that if a transaction pushes a team over the cap, it has seven days to get back under and cannot sign anyone until it has room.

Is there an NFL salary floor?

The CBA does not set a single-season payroll floor. Instead, Article 12 requires minimum cash spending over multi-year windows:

Each team must spend, in cash, at least 90% of the salary caps for the 2021-2023, 2024-2026 and 2027-2030 periods. For the earlier 2017-2020 period the requirement was 89%.
The league as a whole must spend at least 95% of the combined caps over the same periods.

A team that falls short at the end of a period (2026 closes the current one) must pay the shortfall directly to players who were on its roster at any time during that period, by the following Sept. 15.

What is the Top 51 rule?

Before the regular season, not every contract on an offseason roster counts in full. Article 13 says that from the start of the league year until the first day of the regular season, only the 51 highest-valued contracts, tenders and offer sheets count in full. For players outside the top 51, base salary counts only to the extent it exceeds set minimum-salary thresholds, though prorated bonus money still counts. Once the regular season begins, every contract counts.

Can NFL teams carry over unused cap space?

Yes. Under Article 13, a club may carry over any amount of its unused room into the next league year by giving the league written notice, signed by the owner, by 4 p.m. New York time on the day after its final regular-season game. The designated amount is charged to the current year's cap and credited to the next year's, which is why each team's adjusted cap is usually different from the league-wide figure. Over The Cap describes a team's cap as the base salary cap plus carryover, plus or minus adjustments.

How do cap hits work?

A player's cap hit, or cap number, is what his contract counts against the team's cap in a given season. It is often very different from what he is paid in cash that year.

Base salary

Base salary (the "Paragraph 5" salary in the player contract) counts in the year it is earned.

Signing bonuses and proration

A signing bonus is paid up front but, under Article 13, is spread evenly over the contract's term for cap purposes, with a maximum proration of five years. A $25 million signing bonus on a five-year deal counts $5 million per year. Option bonuses, the money a team pays to exercise an option to extend a contract, are treated the same way and prorated over the remaining term.

Roster bonuses

Roster bonuses paid for being on the roster on a set date generally count in the year they are earned, like base salary.

Incentives: LTBE and NLTBE

Performance incentives are split into "likely to be earned" (LTBE) and "not likely to be earned" (NLTBE). Under Article 13, an incentive counts against the current cap if it is likely to be earned based on the player's or team's performance the previous year. For example, the CBA's own example: a $1,000-per-touchdown bonus counts up front for the touchdowns the player actually scored the year before. Incentives within the player's sole control, such as workout bonuses, are always LTBE. After the season the books are reconciled: earned NLTBE money that pushed a team over the cap is charged to next year's cap, and LTBE money that was not earned can produce a credit.

Void years

Because bonus proration is capped at five years, teams sometimes add "void years" to the end of a contract. These are placeholder years the player will never play, used to spread bonus money over more seasons and lower the current cap hit. As SumerSports explains, when the contract voids, all bonus money assigned to those years accelerates onto the team's cap at once unless the player re-signs.

What is a contract restructure?

In a restructure, a team converts part of a player's base salary (or roster bonus) into a signing bonus. The player's pay does not change, but the converted amount is now prorated over the remaining years, cutting this year's cap hit and raising future ones. Many contracts include language that lets the team convert salary this way without the player's agreement, according to SumerSports.

A 2026 example: the Lions converted $40 million of quarterback Jared Goff's 2026 base salary into a signing bonus and added a void year, creating $32 million in 2026 cap space, per NBC Sports' Pro Football Talk, citing NFL Network's Tom Pelissero. Goff's 2026 pay did not change.

An extension works on the same principle. Adding new years and a new signing bonus lets the team spread money over a longer term, which can lower the current cap hit while adding to future commitments.

What is dead money?

Dead money is cap charge for a player who is no longer on the roster. It comes mostly from signing bonus proration that has already been paid but not yet counted against the cap. When a player is released or traded before June 1, Article 13 says all of his remaining unamortized bonus accelerates onto the current year's cap. The player's new team takes on none of that bonus.

Dead money can be large. In Over The Cap's 2026 figures as of Nov. 11, 2026, the Dolphins carried about $190.1 million in dead money, followed by the Saints (about $123.2 million), the Browns (about $121.1 million) and the Jets (about $119.1 million).

What is a post-June 1 cut?

Releasing or trading a player after June 1 changes the timing of dead money. Under Article 13, only the current year's bonus proration stays on the current cap, and the remaining bonus money for future years moves to the next league year.

Teams can get that treatment earlier through the post-June 1 designation. Each club may designate up to two players per league year who are released on or before June 1 but are treated as if released on June 2. The catch is timing: the player's full cap charge stays on the books until June 2, when his base salary comes off and the dead money is split between the current and next league year. The designation is not available in the final league year of the CBA.

What are the NFL minimum salaries in 2026?

Article 26 of the CBA sets the minimum base salary for players on a club's active or inactive list, based on credited seasons:

Credited seasons	2026 minimum salary
0 (rookies)	$885,000
1	$1,005,000
2	$1,075,000
3	$1,145,000
4-6	$1,215,000
7 or more	$1,300,000

Minimums for players who are under contract but not on the active or inactive list (excluding the practice squad) are lower, starting at $515,000 for players with no credited seasons in 2026.

Which teams have the most 2026 cap space?

The three teams with the most and the three with the least room on Over The Cap's team cap space table, as of Nov. 11, 2026:

Team	2026 cap space
Tennessee Titans	$41.0 million
Atlanta Falcons	$34.6 million
San Francisco 49ers	$34.0 million
Chicago Bears	$2.0 million
Los Angeles Rams	-$0.6 million
Kansas City Chiefs	-$1.2 million