2024 Free Agency: Increased Cap Unlikely to Overly Impact Jaguars

The Jaguars will have a bit more money to work with, but they still have a ways to go.

March 13 is likely going to see some true funny money thrown around each corner of the NFL, but it is hard to imagine the Jacksonville Jaguars seeing their prospects change much.

The NFL announced this week the 2024 Salary Cap will be $255.4 million per team. That is a higher bump than most projected, and a bump the NFL has never truly seen before. 

"The unprecedented $30 million increase per club in this year’s Salary Cap is the result of the full repayment of all amounts advanced by the clubs and deferred by the players during the Covid pandemic as well as an extraordinary increase in media revenue for the 2024 season," the NFL said. 

But even after the increase, the Jaguars are sitting at $24,683,167 in available in cap space -- still just No. 18 in the NFL, and far behind the other three teams in the AFC South. 

The increase in cap space helps, but teams already project for a rise in the cap. Maybe not a rise to this extent, but it is unlikely the increase in cap is even $10 million more than teams widely expected. 

An extra $10 million to play with is still significant, but not enough to change the plans for a team like the Jaguars. Considering the Jaguars still have to add a potential (or even likely) franchise tag to Josh Allen that will cost between $21.32 million and $24 million, they have enough cap space right now to tag Allen and do, well, nothing else -- unless moves are made.

This is already what was projected with the Jaguars, even before the cap hike. The Jaguars were already set to make tough decisions on players like Rayshawn Jenkins, Cam Robinson, Brandon Scherff, Darious Williams, Foley Fatukasi, and others. 

This doesn't even factor in the Jaguars needing to create space for other free agents like Calvin Ridley and Ezra Cleveland, or the space they will need to sign their rookie class. In short, the Jaguars still have a lot of work to do to give them cap flexibility this offseason.

The extra cap space is good news for any team, but it is likely that it means more for teams at the very bottom of the barrel than it does for teams in middling cap situations like the Jaguars. 

The Jaguars spent big in 2021 and 2022, and it is still showing up in 2024. Next year will look a bit different, but even then the Jaguars will have to consider the costs of a Trevor Lawrence extension or fifth-year option.