NFL salary cap to be set at a whopping $255.4 million, which gives the Browns more flexibility

Does Cleveland still have to restructure contracts or cut players? Let’s take a look.

On Friday, the NFL announced the 2024 salary cap at a whopping $255.4 million, which is an unprecedented $30 million increase from last season. We’ve been following the projections of the salary cap over the past few weeks, which at first was estimated around $243 million, then speculated to be about $250 million, and now settles in at the higher amount.

The move also gives the Cleveland Browns even more flexibility when it comes to how much available cap space they’ll have. Back in January, under the old salary cap projections, it was believed that the Browns would be about $17.5 million over the cap, meaning they would need to restructure a few contracts or cut some players to save space. While general manager Andrew Berry still has some work to do, according to Over the Cap, the Browns are now only $6.2 million over the salary cap. Granted, Berry is still going to want to make some major moves — like shifting money from the contract of QB Deshaun Watson — because he doesn’t want to just be even with the salary cap; he wants to open up a lot of cap space to re-sign players who are free agents, and still try to upgrade some positions in free agency.

The one thing I always try to remind people of when the NFL salary cap jumps more than expected, though, is that this isn’t just something that benefits the Browns: it helps all 31 teams in the NFL, and in turn, you also have to factor in that players are also going to want more money on new contracts than previous years. The bar is set higher.

Updated Salary Cap Numbers for Browns

NFL 2024 Salary Cap: $255.40 million
Browns’ Rollover/Adjustments from 2023: $31.25 million
Browns’ 2024 Adjusted Salary Cap: $255.40 million + $31.25 million = $286.65 million

Browns’ Top 51 Cap Total: $277.89 million
Browns’ Dead Money for 2024: $14.97 million
Browns’ Total Cap Spent for 2024: $277.89 million + $14.97 million = $292.86 million

When you subtract the two subtotals above ($286.65 million – $292.86 million), you can see how the “-$6.21 million in cap space” figure was derived.