When the NFL and NFLPA reached an agreement earlier this year to play the 2021 season under unprecedented circumstances, it was settled that the 2021 salary cap would be no lower than $175MM. That still would’ve been a steep drop from the $198.2MM figure for 2020. Fortunately for the players, it looks like the NFLPA could avoid that doomsday scenario and then some, per Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com. A source told Florio that the prospect of stadiums full of fans looking better for 2021 has the league office feeling a little more generous.
Florio writes that the “potential of a return to something normal or close to it” for 2021 could end up having the league keep the cap “in the range” of $195MM, which would mean practically no drop at all. Of course, with the ever-changing nature of COVID-19 and the current environment, there’s still a lot left to be determined. As Florio notes, the league won’t make its final decision until late February or early March, so there’s still plenty of time for things to change. This will be an interesting storyline to monitor as the offseason approaches.
Here’s more from around the league as Week 13 winds down:
- Mike Glennon and the Jaguars came up just short of a huge upset when they lost in overtime to the Vikings, but he apparently did enough to keep the job for another week. Glennon will start for Jacksonville in Week 14, head coach Doug Marrone said after the game. Glennon moved the ball decently against Minnesota, but turned the ball over three times. That still wasn’t enough for Marrone to turn back to Gardner Minshew. “I think he still gives us the best chance to win as of right now so I’m going to stick with him right now for this week,” Marrone said, per John Oehser of the team’s official site. As you can see, Marrone certainly didn’t commit to him for the rest of the season and it wouldn’t be surprising if Minshew gets the call at any time. The 1-11 Jags have lost 11 in a row, although four of their last five losses have been by four points or fewer. Glennon, Minshew, and sixth-round rookie Jake Luton have all started multiple games in this disastrous campaign.
- Speaking of the Jags, they are one of several teams likely to be looking for a quarterback in the first-round of this coming April’s draft. It’s looking like an excellent class of passers, with Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence and Ohio State’s Justin Fields clearly at the top. While they’re considered by many to be the top two picks in the draft, Lawrence will be “graded significantly higher” by scouts than Fields, Tony Pauline of ProFootballNetwork.com writes. That probably won’t surprise you, but what Pauline said next might. The long-time draft insider writes that Fields will grade higher on teams’ boards than 2020 first overall pick Joe Burrow. The only reason Lawrence will be clearly ahead of Fields is since Lawrence is viewed as the best quarterback prospect since Andrew Luck. If Fields is going to be considered a better pro prospect than the highly touted Burrow, getting the second overall pick instead of first might not be that bad for Jacksonville or whoever else.
Fields over Burrow? euh, i dunno about that.
Agree 100 percent.
There is a good chance teams are going to fall in love with NDST Trey Lance. Physical tools are hard to ignore.
With Wentz’s recent struggles, they may think twice about a kid from NDSU. Especially coming off a year in which he only played 1 game.
That’s ridiculous. Wentz clearly showed he could adapt to the NFL. Who knows why he is struggling now, but that shouldn’t affect how you grade Lance.
Eagles are basically trash since Frank Reich left
Have you seen the weapons Wentz has? It is like being in a sword fight with a stage prop against a samurai sword. They need players and him. He is fun shy to pull the trigger which asks the question why do players get the yips?
lets not forget about sam howell from n.c.
Thing is, LSU played a full season of games with an estimated strength of schedule better than 77th (as of the CFB rankings last Tuesday). While I respect Justin Fields, I find it hard to believe that he would be ranked higher than Burrow, especially considering the type of offense run at OSU.
I also don’t think the Jags will be picky about who they get. It’s silly to just give up on the positive aspects of your team because they’re not shiny first round picks, and Minshew gave them great effort at a great value. At this point, I doubt that he’d even want to play for Jacksonville, and will end up being a lucky pickup for another team. It would be amusing to see him end up in a place like Denver or New England and winning the job, but there are at least three other places where I could see Minshew taking over for a retiring starter (Pittsburgh, New Orleans, and not in the least, Indianapolis). I am absolutely not predicting that this happens, but the main point of me making this hypothetical point is that Minshew is not useless and giving up on him so early is one reason the Jags constantly find themselves in rebuild mode-mismanagement of homegrown talent.
As a Steelers fan, I hope Jacksonville gives up on Minshew so that we can acquire him cheaply and groom him behind Ben. I fail to understand why they’re giving up on him so soon. The poor win/loss record can be attributed to the shady defense and coaching; not Minshew
Agreed, 100%.
D’Eriq King is going to be the late round OB steal of the draft, assuming he comes out which he should.