Dan Duggan explains the change from 51 man salary cap to all player salary cap

[MightyGiants]

Dan Duggan
@DDuggan21
Wanted to expand a bit on the "top 51" accounting that ends tomorrow. During the offseason, only the players with the top 51 cap charges count toward a team's cap space. But once the season starts, every players' cap charge counts toward the team's cap space.

So the Giants have $10.1M in cap space today, per the NFLPA database. Looks like they're flush with space. But here's how that will evaporate tomorrow:

• Players 52 and 53 on the active roster will start counting: $1.6M
• The 16-man practice squad will start counting: $4.1M
• All players on reserve lists will start counting: $6.6M

So just like that, the $10M is gone (and then some). This is a rough estimate because some of the players still counting on IR have reached injury settlements that haven't been processed yet by the NFLPA. But even when those are accounted for, a restructure is coming, whether tomorrow or as needed to afford in-season charges like practice squad elevations and signings to replace players who go on IR.
8:33 AM · Sep 4, 2024
·
911
 Views

[AZGiantFan]

Dan Duggan
@DDuggan21
Wanted to expand a bit on the "top 51" accounting that ends tomorrow. During the offseason, only the players with the top 51 cap charges count toward a team's cap space. But once the season starts, every players' cap charge counts toward the team's cap space.

So the Giants have $10.1M in cap space today, per the NFLPA database. Looks like they're flush with space. But here's how that will evaporate tomorrow:

• Players 52 and 53 on the active roster will start counting: $1.6M
• The 16-man practice squad will start counting: $4.1M
• All players on reserve lists will start counting: $6.6M

So just like that, the $10M is gone (and then some). This is a rough estimate because some of the players still counting on IR have reached injury settlements that haven't been processed yet by the NFLPA. But even when those are accounted for, a restructure is coming, whether tomorrow or as needed to afford in-season charges like practice squad elevations and signings to replace players who go on IR.
8:33 AM · Sep 4, 2024
·
911
 Views

Any idea why this is such a complicated and misleading, to most fans, structure?

[MightyGiants]

Any idea why this is such a complicated and misleading, to most fans, structure?

Rich,

I think it's not quite as complicated as Dan's explanation made it seem.  In the off-season when rosters balloon to 90, the salary cap only counts the top 51 salaries.  When the season starts, all player on the 53 man roster, plus the practice squad, plus players on IR (in other words all players employed by the team) count towards the cap.

The one twist is that when a team releases an injured player, they are released with an injury settlement.  Basically teams have to pay the player's salary until they are anticipated to be healthy.  Those payments also count toward the salary cap.

[MightyGiants]

https://x.com/dduggan21/status/1831815392639197409?s=12