Why the NFL's historic salary cap increase is great news for the NY Jets

The NFL officially announced the salary cap number for the 2024 season on Friday, and it's even higher than initially expected. That can only be good news for the NY Jets and other teams in a similar situation.

The Jets were projected by most cap sites to have anywhere between $1.5 million and $5 million in cap space entering the offseason. After Friday's announcement, that projection has shot up to over $15 million, per Over The Cap.

That's because this year's cap figure has been set at $255.4 million — a whopping $30.6 million increase from last season and nearly $10 million more than what the number was projected to be.

The NFL salary cap has now increased nearly 40 percent over the last three years as the historic growth levels of the league continue. The Jets stand to benefit from the additional league revenue.

The NFL's salary cap increase is massive for the NY Jets

In theory, the salary cap increase should benefit every team and every player. There's now more money to spend, which means that players will earn more, and teams will have additional funds to utilize.

That said, this extreme salary cap increase benefits teams that were tight against the cap much more than teams that already had plenty of cap space.

In essence, the difference between having $25 million in cap space and $35 million is much more significant than the difference between having $70 million and $80 million. That extra $10 million goes a long way for cap-strapped teams.

The Jets were already still in a pretty favorable financial situation, but this increase in cap might actually allow the organization to retain players they may have been expected to part ways with.

No, this likely doesn't apply to someone like Bryce Huff, who feels like a lock to sign elsewhere this offseason, but it could apply to players like John Franklin-Myers and Laken Tomlinson, who have been seen as possible cap casualties.

The Jets would save $7.3 million and $8.1 million, respectively, by releasing Franklin-Myers and Tomlinson this offseason. That's roughly $15.4 million in cap savings. However, the Jets' projected cap space increased from $1.67 million to $15 million on Friday, per Over The Cap.

This increase alone essentially covers the savings the Jets would have received if they released Franklin-Myers and Tomlinson. That right there is why this salary cap number really does matter to teams like the Jets.

It also means the Jets will have a little extra money to fill some key holes in free agency. This doesn't necessarily make it more likely that the team will be able to sign a big-name free agent like Calvin Ridley, but it does give them additional resources to address other needs.

Teams like the New England Patriots that already had ample cap space didn't need these extra resources — they were already able to address all their roster needs. The same wasn't necessarily true for teams like the Jets.

The NFL's historic growth in revenue could allow the Jets to retain key pieces of their core and fill roster holes in free agency.

In a weird domino effect kind of way, the Jets might be able to keep John Franklin-Myers because Taylor Swift showed up to a few Chiefs games last year. We'll take it.