The new Collective Bargaining Agreement was approved following the votes from the NFL players and the salary cap numbers were revealed. According to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler, the salary cap for the 2020 season is lower than anticipated after the new CBA.
NFL salary cap will be set at $198.2M in 2020, a source confirms. A little lower than some teams anticipated.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) March 15, 2020
While the salary cap is lower than anticipated, it is a $10 million increase from a season ago. For the people interested in seeing the increase from previous seasons, Field Yates of ESPN highlighted the changes over the years.
NFL salary cap by year:
2014: $133.0M
2015: $143.3M
2016: $155.3M
2017: $167.0M
2018: 177.3M
2019: $188.2MAnd now for 2020: $198.2M
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) March 15, 2020
Of course, one of the NFL teams that could be disappointed in the increase is the Dallas Cowboys. With free agency right around the corner, the Cowboys are fixated on keeping Dak Prescott and Amari Cooper this offseason.
But with the new CBA being passed, Dallas can only franchise tag one of them. Lastly, with a $10 million increase, a scenario involving both of them remaining in Dallas becomes a bit less likely.
The most probable situation, if both return, is that one of them is tagged while the other signs a multi-year contract. At the same time, there's a legitimate chance that Dallas chooses to let Cooper walk in free agency.
Besides the Cowboys, other teams could address free agency differently due to the ramifications of the new CBA. By looking into Fowler's tweet, it appears that some teams believed the salary cap could exceed $200 million in 2020.
However, with a 17-game season coming soon and expanded playoffs, the salary cap is expected to continue rising in the future. Until that happens though, teams will have to make do with $198.2 million in salary cap this offseason.
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