The jump in salary cap looks like it took front office franchise personnel by surprise. Most in the know were expecting in the $240s M. It provides significant relief for New Orleans, Miami, Buffalo, and Denver, among others.
The Bills are still 43M over the cap, followed by the Saints and Dolphins with approx. $40M and $30M respectively. Certainly better than the $50M+ that was expected, but they are not out of the woods just yet. They have restructure candidates, but I believe a few of their larger contracts (other than Allen, who's not going anywhere) are nearly uncuttable. Josh Allen will, in all likelihood, be restructured. That is half the 2024 deficit right there. OTOH, they run into problems with players like Von Miller. He's 34, plays like he's 44, while being paid like he's 24. He can be designated as a post-June 1 cut, but they have to get under the cap before then. The emergence of Kincaid makes Knox expendable, but I believe the associated dead money also makes him uncuttable. Davis walking as a free agent makes Diggs their only bonafide outside receiving threat, yet has a health cap hit for someone whose production taled off significantly as the season went on. Also, it's not enough for these teams to merely meet the cap. They have to have room to sign free agents and draft picks.
Contrary to logic, the elevated cap number is not necessarily a positive for Washington, Tennessee, Chicago, and New England (I.e. teams with the most cap space), because teams will not be forced to effective players, but with bloated deals. As a result, the FA market could be a much thinner than previously expected, yet players will command above market deals.
Teams who the cap helps are in the middle of the pac. Those who don't need to play significant cap games, but who may have made a mistake or two in previously extending their own players or signing mediocre free agents to larger deals.
