The NFL announced a massive salary camp bump for 2026, and there are a few teams who can use the leeway to get out of dead cap issues.
The NFL alerted teams on Friday that the projected salary cap for the 2026 season isn’t as big as the increase from 2024 to 2025, but it’s still considerable. The numbers are expected to be between $301.2 million to $305.7 million, marking a third consecutive year that the cap is growing by at least $22 million. It can really boost momentum for teams looking to shape up their contending rosters, but it can also really aid teams struggling to stop circling the cap drain with dead money eating up their cap space.
In particular, the Jacksonville Jaguars, New Orleans Saints, and New York Jets have the most dead money heading into next season, with the Jaguars ranking third with over $42 million. Jacksonville is also No. 24 in cap space and will start the new year slightly over $9 million dollars in the hole. While the Jaguars made the postseason for the first time in three seasons in 2025, they had an early Wild Card exit to the Buffalo Bills. Looking to next season, the cap boost will help them retool and compete.
Here is the full story from Jaguars Roundtable writer Teri Berg on the salary cap boost and how Jacksonville can use it to their advantage.
Not only does their dead cap space reduce what they can currently give to active-player salaries, but it also significantly hinders their ability to bring in new talent. The $22-plus million boost will help them get out of that dead space, but they’ll need to hit the financial office and begin restructuring contracts to give them more to work with in free agency which opens March 11.