NFL sets salary cap at a record-high for the 2025 season

The NFL’s salary cap will be a record-high $279.2 million in 2025, an increase of $23.8 million.

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Feb 27, 2025, 3:26 PM

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A general view of Lumen Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks, during a Dec. 15, 2024 game. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

(Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The NFL’s salary cap will be a record-high $279.2 million in 2025, an increase of $23.8 million.

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The league informed teams of the new cap figure on Thursday during the NFL scouting combine.

Teams must be under the cap by 1 p.m. Pacific on March 12.

The cap is up $102 million since 2018. It was $34.608 million in 1994, the first year the NFL had a salary cap. Total projected player costs, including benefits, are slotted at $362.48 million.

The salary cap was set at $255.4 million in 2024, up more than $30 million from the previous year.

The bump is great news for Cincinnati, which is hoping to sign receiver Tee Higgins to a long-term contract. It also means more money for Minnesota to re-sign quarterback Sam Darnold or Kansas City to bring back guard Trey Smith or Super Bowl champion Philadelphia to keep linebacker Zack Baun.

It’s also significant for teams projected to be over the cap when the new league year begins in March: the Seattle Seahawks, Atlanta Falcons, Buffalo Bills and Cleveland Browns. It might not be enough to save the New Orleans Saints, who are more than $50 million over the projected cap and by far in the worst shape heading into 2025.