It’s been well-documented as to how COVID-19 affected the 2021 salary cap, so NFL franchises took a collective deep breath when the league announced the cap ceiling for 2022.
Per The NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the ceiling has been set at $208.2 million. The figure represents a 14% increase over the 2021 mark of $182.5 million. Pelissero also notes that no floor has been set at the moment.
The NFL and NFLPA have agreed to a $208.2 million salary cap ceiling for 2022, per source.
There is no cap floor as of now. The sides agreed last August to spread the COVID-related revenue shortfall from 2020 over several years, and the cap dropped to $182.5M this year.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) May 26, 2021
How does this affect the Bucs? Well, per overthecap.com, they currently have close to $186.8 million invested in their 2022 roster with 53 players. They have a little over $21 million in cap room, which gives them the 18th-most cap room in the league. Neither figure includes potential PPE raises or accelerated money from voidable years.
Per spotrac.com, the Bucs will have 34 free agents heading into 2022. If nothing changes between now and then, of course. Regardless, there are some big, big names in this group. Players such as Chris Godwin, Jason Pierre-Paul, Rob Gronkowski, Ndamukong Suh, Carlton Davis III, OJ Howard, Ryan Jensen, Leonard Fournette, Ronald Jones II, Antonio Brown, Alex Cappa, Jordan Whitehead, and William Gholston join the extensive list.
And all of those names that were just listed are starters. They’re also quality starters who have contributed to the team’s success in a major way. With just $21 million in cap room -as it currently stands- it’s very hard to envision the Bucs pulling off another offseason similar to the one they just dominated.
But teams at least have an idea of what to expect in 2022, which is a exponentially better situation to be in when compared to the past year’s salary cap situation.
