Patriots could have more money with projected increase in salary cap

Posted By on February 19, 2025

FOXBOROUGH, MA – NOVEMBER 20: Patriots helmet during a game between the New England Patriots and the New York Jets on November 20, 2022, at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

It appears the Patriots may have more salary cap space to work with than originally thought. 

According to ESPN’s Dan Graziano, the NFL informed teams on Wednesday that the “2025 per-team salary cap will fall in the range of $277.5 million to $281.5 million.” That is a substantial increase from last year’s $255.4 million. The expected cap projection for this year was roughly $275 million.

The Patriots could have as much as $126,681,728 in cap space. The number could increase to over $130 million depending on what the final cap number is.

Going into this off-season, the Patriots were projected to have the most cap space in the NFL. Sources expect new coach Mike Vrabel and the Patriots front office to be busy ahead of April’s draft. 

Offensive line, wide receiver, defensive tackle, EDGE and cornerback are all expected to be positions the Patriots target in free agency. One potential target was going to be Bengals free agent wide receiver Tee Higgins but he appears to be off the market with the news that the Bengals are going to franchise him for the second straight off-season. 

The Patriots could also pursue Ravens free agent offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley and Chiefs free agent guard Trey Smith. All indications are the Ravens plan on re-signing Stanley. Baltimore May ultimately franchise Stanley. The Chiefs on the other hand do not plan on using the franchise tag on Smith so he could be a viable free agent target.

The Patriots are not the free agent destination they used to be but with a potential franchise quarterback in Drake Maye and Vrabel as the coach, they should be a more attractive landing spot. Despite that, they are still going to have to overpay free agents to get them to come to New England.

If they have more cap space to operate with, spending 25-50 cents more on the dollar to land a free agent should not be that bitter a pill to swallow. They will have to pay the “Suck Tax” to lure free agents unfortunately.

Either way you look at it? An increase in the salary cap is great news for a Patriots team that needs to spend in order to return to relevancy.