Joe Burrow has been left astounded by the Philadelphia Eagles’ shrewd financial manoeuvres, and insists it feels as if the NFL salary cap doesn’t even exist. The 28-year-old Cincinnati Bengals quarterback wasn’t suggesting any wrongdoing on the part of the Super Bowl LIX champions; rather, he marvelled at their ability to maintain a roster full of highly-paid players.
On a recent episode of the Pardon My Take podcast, where hosts Dan ‘Big Cat’ Katz and Eric Sollenberger, also known as ‘PFT Commenter’, doubted the existence of the NFL salary cap, Burrow replied: “Definitely some teams seem to make it feel that way. The Eagles are paying everybody, so that seems like the way [to do it]. Whatever they’re doing.”
The NFL salary cap is a limit on how much teams can spend on player salaries in a given season. Set annually by the league, it ensures competitive balance by preventing wealthier teams from outspending others.
The cap is based on league revenue, and teams must structure contracts to stay under it. Violations can lead to fines, lost draft picks, or even voided contracts. There’s also a ‘dead cap’ hit for releasing players with guaranteed money. The cap includes exceptions like signing bonuses and restructures to manage spending strategically.
Burrow shed light on the intricacies of contract restructures, suggesting he may be due for one himself in the offseason. “So you can do a couple different things. You can convert some of the money to a signing bonus, which will lower the cap hit,” he explained.
“You can push some of the money to the back end of the contract, that lowers the cap hit, and then when you get the back end you can restructure it and convert it to a signing bonus. And you can also just take less money.”
The salary cap saw a significant rise in 2024, reaching $255.4million – a $30m increase from the previous year – with expectations of a similar surge before the 2025 season. “This is the last year that all the Covid cap money restrictions across the league were implemented so, the next three or four years the cap’s going to go up,” Burrow noted. “It went up eight per cent last year, it’ll probably be similar maybe a little more.”
After being drafted first overall by the Bengals in 2020, Burrow had an outstanding 2021 season, securing their first playoff victory since 1990, although they ultimately fell to the Los Angeles Rams at Super Bowl LVI. In 2023, he inked what was then the biggest contract in NFL history by annual salary and led the Bengals to their first back-to-back division titles ever.
Despite finishing ninth in the AFC conference and missing out on a place in the 2024/25 playoffs, Burrow ended the season with a career-high 4,918 passing yards and 43 touchdowns, topping the NFL in both categories. The quarterback is one of only three Bengals players with an annual contract exceeding $16m.
In contrast, Super Bowl winners the Eagles have seven players with contracts surpassing that amount – including Jalen Hurts, AJ Brown, DeVonta Smith, Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, Lane Johnson and Bryce Huff.
