The NFL has set its salary cap figure for the 2025 season, and as had already been generally reported, it has taken yet another big year-over-year leap.

Last week, the league office informed teams that the 2025 salary cap would fall between $277.5 million and $281.5 million per team, and the final figure split those two goalposts down the middle at $279.2 million. That is a significantly higher number than team officials had been anticipating prior to last week's memo; the original estimate had the number potentially as low as $265 million.

As has been the case for several seasons in a row, the cap made a big jump from the previous year's figure, which in this case was $255.4 million. The NFL's salary cap took a temporary dip in 2021 following the COVID-affected season to $182.5 million, but in the four years since has increased by a total of $96.7 million. In contrast, the salary cap increased by a total of $77.825 million between the start of a new collective bargaining agreement in 2009 and another CBA in 2020.

Obviously, the rise in the salary cap gives every team some added degree of flexibility for the upcoming free agency period, which starts on March 12. According to Spotrac, there were seven teams that were projected to have negative salary cap space before the larger-than-expected bump, and now there are only five: Atlanta, Seattle, Buffalo, Cleveland and New Orleans. The Saints, who have the most work to do to get compliant with the cap limit before March 12, are now estimated at being approximately $47 million over. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers estimated cap space on Spotrac is $9,033,345.

NFL teams, particularly those dealing with tight salary cap restrictions, got some good news on Wednesday. The league's per-team salary cap is about to make another big jump forward in 2025.