Report: 2021 salary cap could settle near $185M, which is great news for Saints
The COVID-19 pandemic prompted widespread health and safety restrictions around the country, which produced a big hit to the NFL’s financials. But the league was able to recoup enough income from the 2020 season to steady itself, and with new broadcasting deals and an additional week of games in the regular season on the horizon, NFL ownership is optimistic that the 2021 salary cap won’t end up in straits as dire as expected.
That’s the latest report from NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, who wrote:
“The NFL and NFLPA began preliminary negotiations last month on the 2021 salary cap. Some team officials believe (and surely hope) the cap will ultimately land closer to $185 million per club — if not a little higher — than the $175 million minimum the sides agreed to last summer as they braced for empty and mostly empty stadiums.”
To be clear, any drop in the salary cap is a problem for the New Orleans Saints. After rising to $198.2 million in 2020, a fall to $185 million will mean some painful cap casualties for the Saints and more creative accounting from the front office. The Saints have conducted business over the last decade with the expectation that they can always kick the can further down the road, because the cap has continued to rise. Now that a global pandemic has put a stop to that, they’ll have to adopt a different approach.
But a $13.2 million decrease (or thereabouts) would be preferable to $23.2 million in losses, which is the worst-case scenario the NFL and the players union compromised on when this all blew up. Considering the Saints have $281.4 million committed to their top 51 contracts next year (the ones that actually matter for accounting purposes), per Over The Cap, they’ll appreciate all the help they can get. They need it with free agents like Trey Hendrickson, Marcus Williams, and Jameis Winston due contract extensions.
Unfortunately, the exact cap total won’t be established until later in the offseason, potentially not until the start of the new league year. That feels unlikely given how high the stakes are for all involved, but until the NFL works out deals with its new broadcast partners and puts the finishing touches on the 17th week, they won’t have a real answer. With that said, it’s encouraging to see some optimism at this stage in the offseason.
