The new NFL salary cap figure for 2024 is the highest dollar increase since its inception 30 years ago

Friday's announcement put the tag at $255.4 million per team, a $30.6 million increase (13.61%) over the 2023 salary cap, and making it the largest jump since the league introduced the cap in 1994

Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman (left) and Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie (right) talk before the Eagles play the 49ers at Lincoln Financial Field last season.Read moreDavid Maialetti / Staff Photographer

by Olivia Reiner

Published Feb. 23, 2024, 3:05 p.m. ET

The 2024 NFL salary cap has been set at $255.4 million, the league announced on Friday.

That figure is a $30.6 million increase over the 2023 salary cap of $224.8 million, marking the largest dollar increase since the league introduced the cap in 1994.

In a news release, the NFL attributed the significant growth of the salary cap to “the full repayment of all amounts advanced by the clubs and deferred by the players” during the pandemic, in addition to the increase in media revenue for 2024.

The $255.4 million salary cap far exceeds earlier reports of minimum expectations for 2024.

In December, the NFL Network reported that the cap could exceed $240 million. Pro Football Talk reported on Monday that while some of its sources expected the cap to land somewhere around $242 million or $243 million, another source estimated that it would be more.

With the salary cap number official, Over The Cap sets the Eagles’ cap space for 2024 at $32.16 million.

Over The Cap estimates that the Eagles would need $4.13 million in cap space to sign their rookie class, giving them $28.94 million in what the database refers to as “effective cap space.” However, these figures do not account for tight end Albert Okwuegbunam’s one-year extension the team announced Friday, so they are each likely slightly smaller.

The new salary cap provides clarity on fifth-year option numbers for 2021 first-round picks, including wide receiver DeVonta Smith. If the Eagles decide to exercise Smith’s fifth-year option by the May 2 deadline, according to a memo to clubs obtained by the NFL Network, his 2025 base salary would be $15.6 million.

The salary cap increase will have an array of impacts on how teams conduct business in the offseason. Now, teams have additional cap space to keep their own pending unrestricted free agents from hitting the market or to aggressively pursue others who ultimately do.

The increase could also have an impact on the future contract of edge rusher Haason Reddick, who has one year remaining on his current deal. A league source told The Inquirer that the team permitted Reddick to seek a trade, giving the 29-year-old veteran pass rusher an opportunity to see what kind of contract he could command on the open market.

The Eagles could use their newfound cap space to sign Reddick to an extension, the avenue that Reddick has said that he prefers. Alternatively, other teams could become more aggressive suitors in a potential trade.