NFL salary cap for 2023 season set at $224.8 million

Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport of NFL Network are reporting that the NFL has set the 2023 salary cap at $224.8 million. That is a $16.6 million increase from the $208.2 million salary cap that teams had to work with this past season (i.e., the one that is nearing its conclusion).

Even with the massive increase, the Buffalo Bills will still have work to do to get under that $224.8 million threshold. Bills general manager Brandon Beane confirmed as much during his year-end press conference last week.

“It’s ($208 million) this year, but I couldn’t tell you if it’s gonna be 220 or 230 or — I’m hoping for a lot of dollars, because we need it,” Beane said last week. “But you know, right now we’re probably in the 240s of what’s on the book — it ain’t gonna be 240-something. We’re gonna have to get under the cap by moves, could be roster cuts, and that’s all the free agents that you guys are aware of not on the books. All those count as zero dollars.”

Spotrac has the Bills with a Top-51 cap figure of just over $247 million heading into the new league year. That means that the Bills will need to trim over $22 million in cap space to be compliant — and that’s before they make any moves, or budget for rookies.

It’s been said innumerable times already, a mere one week into the offseason, and it will bear repeating for the next several months: Beane has his work cut out for him this spring.