Last Wednesday, NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero reported that the league has informed teams to prepare for a salary cap in the range of $277.5 million to $281.5 million.
The cap was expected to grow (as it has every year since its inception in 1994), but this leap exceeds what any GM dreams of- except, perhaps, for Howie Roseman.
[Roseman enters stage left]
Howie- can I call him that? — has had an up-and-down journey with the Eagles, most notably being usurped by now-Raiders-Offensive-Coordinator Chip Kelly. He has been slammed for his inability to draft and hailed as the architect of the last five Eagles’ impeccable drafts. NBC Sports built an all-Howie-draftees roster, and the results were stunning.
Jalen Hurts, Jalen Carter, Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, Lane Johnson, Cam Jurgens, Jason Kelce, Dallas Goedert, Zach Ertz, Josh Sweat, Brandon Graham, DeVonta Smith, Miles Sanders, Fletcher Cox, Bennie Logan, Milton Williams, Beau Allen, and Jordan Davis are just a few of the names Howie can be credited with drafting to the Birds.
And we haven’t begun to discuss free agency.
The reason the salary cap hike matters so much to the Eagles’ future is Howie Roseman’s philosophy regarding salary construction. Roseman has routinely baked player-friendly salaries into long-term contracts, with team-friendly consideration for how those salaries count against the NFL salary cap. In laymen’s terms? If I offer you $100 million, and I just so happen to be Howie Roseman, there’s a good chance you’re getting $6M this year, $21M next year, $30M in year four, and $43M in the final year of your contract. Which, if all goes according to plan, I’ve either restructured with you or traded you to some other sucker.
Thus, the Roseman method was born.
That’s the thing about the NFL salary cap: it’s not real! Have you ever had a babysitter who wasn’t in control? That’s Roger Goodell. Here is a clip from his upcoming biopic:
GOODELL: Hey, guys! Stop it with all that spending! I’m going to put a cap on how much you can spend just so the poor teams aren’t being screwed!
TEAMS: Dang, can we never spend more than $35 million?
GOODELL: Not until next year!
TEAMS: Next year?
GOODELL: Next year!
TEAMS: So this rule only matters… for this year?
GOODELL: That’s right! In fact, next year, you can spend more than $37 million, and the year after that, the limit will rise to $40.7 million!
TEAMS: I’m sorry… they PAY you to do this job?
[CUT SCENE]
Thanks to this silly little, ever-increasing “limit” on how much teams can spend, Howie Roseman has broken the league. Take the following graph into consideration, tracking the growth of the NFL Salary Cap and the cap hits of Saquon Barkley, Jalen Hurts, AJ Brown, and DeVonta Smith, respectively (Salaries by millions of $).
It might not be immediately apparent, but this graph illustrates how Howie has designed these deals to mirror the growth of the salary cap. Moreover, these deals are being leapfrogged within months- even weeks- by more lucrative, more guaranteed contracts.
Take Jalen Hurts for example: on Apr 17, 2023, the Athletic reported Jalen Hurts’ contract to be the highest in NFL history at 5 years, $255 million (or an APY of $51M per year). As daunting as that may sound, APY is NOT the same as one’s cap hit- in fact, as of the 2025 NFL season, Jalen Hurts will represent the 18th highest cap hit among quarterbacks. For fun, let’s take a look at some of the QBs with a higher salary cap hit in 2025 than Hurts:
Dak Prescott, Deshaun Watson, Derek Carr (lol), Matthew Stafford, Kyler Murray (lol again), Geno Smith (wtf), Kirk Cousins (bruh), Tua Tagovailoa (aksjd), Justin Herbert (INT), and Aaron Rodgers (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA).
All of this is to say, Howard Roseman can do the math that you can’t. Jalen Carter is poised to sign a record-breaking contract. Rumors are spreading that the Eagles might do anything they can to pluck Myles Garrett from the hands of the Washington Commanders. But whatever happens, let this be a lesson: in Howie we trust.
Congratulations. You just got a financial education from a HISTORY MAJOR.
ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.
PHOTO: James Lang/Imagn Images
The post NFL Salary Cap is Climbing: How Philly is Poised to Profit appeared first on Philadelphia Sports Nation.