NFL announces historic increase in salary cap set for 2024

The Indianapolis Colts have the sixth-most available cap space at $72.3 million, according to OverTheCap.

Buckle up because business is booming and free agency will vehemently command headlines within the next three weeks as the 2024 NFL off-season begins.

The NFL announced the 2024 Salary Cap will increase to a record-setting $255.4 million per team, which is well beyond the original estimates as well as the 2023 Salary Cap of $224.5 million. An additional $74M per team payment will be designated for player benefits, including retirees and Performance Based Pay for active players. The total player costs will be $329.4M per team.

This unprecedented $30.6M salary cap rise skyrocketed due to the outcome of the phenomenal media revenue set for teams this season and to resolve the full repayment advanced by teams and deferred by the players during the COVID-19 pandemic. For perspective, each NFL team will receive over $400M in national revenue from the league office for media rights and league sponsorships. NFL teams will have profited $150M before any local revenue is calculated, including ticket sales, parking and merchandise.

The NFL salary cap has escalated every year in the revenue-sharing era, despite one exception in 2021, and has nearly doubled over the past decade.

• 2011: $120.37M
• 2012: $120.6M
• 2013: $123M
• 2014: $133M
• 2015: $143.28M
• 2016: $155.27M
• 2017: $167M
• 2018: $177.2M
• 2019: $188.2M
• 2020: $198.2M
• 2021: $182.5M
• 2022: $208.2M
• 2023: $224.8M
• 2024: $255.4M

The Indianapolis Colts have the sixth-most available cap space at $72.3M, according to OverTheCap. The front office should have zero issues retaining its homegrown players or paying the price to restructure the defense by seeking the best available free agents. NFL teams can begin negotiating with free agents in less than three weeks on March 11 and the free agency period officially begins on March 13 at 4 p.m. (ET).

Receiver Michael Pittman Jr. entered this off-season as the Colts top priority to sign to a long-term deal, but Indianapolis’ front office may now be more inclined to place the franchise tag on its star receiver, which will cost $21.8M in 2024. If the Colts choose to tag Pittman, there will still be over $50M to spend on free agents. The Colts have three defensive starters who are set to be unrestricted free agents in 2024, including defensive tackle Grover Stewart, cornerback Kenny Moore II and safety Julian Blackmon.

The two-week NFL franchise tag window began Tuesday and runs through the March 5 deadline. Each team has three franchise tags available to use in order to prevent drafted players from hitting the open free agency market after their first contract. The franchise tag was first implemented in 1993 and the Colts have utilized the franchise tag six times.

The first player to be franchise tagged in Indianapolis was tight end Marcus Pollard in 2001. Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning was franchise tagged twice in 2004 and 2011. Two defensive Ring of Honor members have been franchise tagged, including 2024 Hall of Fame inductee Dwight Freeney in 2007 and Robert Mathis in 2012. The last time the Colts used the tool was to keep punter Pat McAfee in 2013.