The NFL’s new salary cap number means the Los Angeles Rams have some work to do.
AC/DC once sang that “money talks.” It might whisper in the NFL landscape as it prepares for Super Bowl LVII, but it’ll raise to a deafening roar once the free agency period the Vince Lombardi Trophy is raised.
To that end, the league has informed its 32 teams that the salary cap for the 2023-24 season has been raised to $224.8 million, more than a seven percent increase from this year’s number of $208.2 million.
The new number more or less serves as visual proof of the NFL’s financial recovery from both the height of the COVID-19 pandemic (which lowered the salary cap to $182.5 million during the 2021-22 season) and the windfall set to stem from a new television broadcasting deal set to kick in next fall.
While the raise provides some modicum of relief to the woebegone Los Angeles Rams, the team still has some work to do as it prepares for what could be a fateful offseason.
With the new number, the defending champion Rams are now more than $14 million over the cap as they look to recover from a brutal Super Bowl defense that produced a mere five wins.
Any relief brought about by major potential cap releases would come with accompanying hits of dead money: releasing Bobby Wagner, Leonard Floyd, and Tyler Higbee would save over $11 million but those potential departures would still make up over $31 million against their cap.
Trades (Wagner and Joe Noteboom among those potentially dealed) and contract restructures, such as that of Aaron Donald’s upon his return, could also help with the number.
According to Over the Cap’s calculations, the Rams would hardly be the only team in need of financial restructuring: 14 teams are currently over the cap new salary cap, with the New Orleans Saints facing the biggest challenge ahead of over $60 million away.
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