As soon as the clock strikes 4 p.m. ET on March 16, the entire NFL has to be under the salary cap. That means that the sum of the 51st top cap hits on a team’s roster is not allow to exceed the recently announced $208.2 million.
The New England Patriots are already below this number, but barely. After releasing veteran linebacker Kyle Van Noy in a cost-cutting move on Monday, the club has around $10.21 million available, according to salary cap expert Miguel Benzan.
While those $10.21 million would allow the Patriots to fulfill the NFL’s top-51 rule, they puts them in a challenging situation when it comes to being competitive in free agency.