2019 NFL salary cap could swell to $191 million

The NFL announced Tuesday that it has notified its 32 member clubs of the projected 2019 salary cap figure which, according to a memo released by the league will fall somewhere between $187 and $191.1 million.

With the 2018 cap having been set at $177.2 million, that means the NFL is looking at a $9.8 to $13.9 million increase next season.

While the final cap figure won’t be set until late February/early March, let’s take a look at how this range potentially affects the Giants’ cap space and some of the pending decisions general manager Dave Gettleman will need to make moving forward.

How much space will the Giants have?

Over the Cap currently projects the Giants to have $32,662,476 of cap space (based on a $190 million cap figure).

However, this figure does not include any money the Giants plan to carry over from this year (per the NFLPA public cap report, the Giants have $5,945,096 in cap space that they can choose to carry over).

Also not included in Over the Cap’s estimate are any postseason adjustments made, such as credits on incentives that weren’t reached (e.g. Jonathan Stewart’s per game roster bonus) or those debits on incentives that were reached, e.g. a player qualifying for Pro Bowl status.

It is also not clear if Over the Cap’s estimate includes the $9,291,400 of dead money set to hit next year’s books (unlikely).

With all that said, we can still try to come away with an estimate. If the cap increase is on the lower end of the scale ($9.8 million) that would pretty much cancel out the dead money accumulated to this point.

Also the $5+ million plus should be more than enough to cover any postseason debits necessary with room to spare.

Thus if things don’t change too dramatically, the Giants could be looking at around $37 million to start, again depending on the final accounting process that will take place after the season.