We're nearly one week into NFL free agency, and we knew that this offseason would be stranger than most. COVID-19 (and the lost revenue that can be attributed to it) wreaked havoc on the league's salary cap, which dropped from $198.2 million in 2020 to $182.5 million.
Not only did that mean teams would have less to spend this offseason, but many teams also entered free agency over the cap, needing to restructure deals and shed their own players ahead of signing new ones. When the legal tampering window opened noon Monday, 12 NFL teams were either over the cap or had less than $10 million to work with, per Over the Cap.