The NFL announced Friday an extraordinary increase in the salary cap, increasing the cap an eye-popping $30 million per team.
Teams will now have a salary cap of $255.4 million for the 2024 season.
In a press release, the NFL says the “unprecedented $30 million increase per club in this year’s Salary Cap is the result of the full repayment of all amounts advanced by the clubs and deferred by the players during the Covid pandemic as well as an extraordinary increase in media revenue for the 2024 season.”
According to Over The Cap, the Vikings now currently have around $37.8 million in current cap space.
So what does that mean for the Vikings who have some significant contracts to deal with, notably Justin Jefferson and Kirk Cousins?
“I don’t think it fundamentally changes a lot from the Vikings perspective,” Purple Insider’s Matthew Coller told Bring Me The Sports. “When the cap goes up, the prices go up for free agents so it doesn’t make it any easier to work around a big QB contract. It may give some other teams more cap room to make Cousins an offer though. As far as Jefferson, it softens the blow of him becoming the highest paid receiver in the league a bit.”
Jefferson is widely expected to sign a contract extension that resets the market for wide receivers and potentially all non-QBs after a record-setting start to his career.
Cousins is out of contract in March after six season with the Vikings. He is set to be one of the most coveted free agents on the market with teams such as the Atlanta Falcons, Las Vegas Raiders and Pittsburgh Steelers rumored to be interested in the 35-year-old.
Minnesota is also interested in bringing him back, though reportedly not on a fully guaranteed deal.
