The salary cap is the easiest one, since it's the one every team must follow. In 2026, the base salary cap is $301.2 million. Every team's salary cap hits must add up to or be below that number.
There's a wide range here. The Chiefs are only about $1.5 million away from hitting the cap ceiling, while the 49ers still have $65 million in cap space, even with the offseason over. Another way to assess spending is in cash spending.
That is the amount of money a team is actually paying its players. More than half of the NFL teams are over the $301.2 million mark here. Well, there are certain measures teams can take to circumvent the salary cap.
One such example is spreading out bonuses in contracts over several years. There are lots of good explanations, but here's the basic premise: Let's say Player X signs a five-year deal that includes a $30 million signing bonus. While the team pays that player $30 million immediately upon signing, the team can split that $30 million over the five years of the deal for salary cap purposes.
So, the signing bonus counts only toward the cap for $6 million each season. Active cash spending is the best way to see which teams are willing to spend what, and that range is wide, too. Some teams (read: owners) are willing to be extremely aggressive and spend big money into the future.
As such, when looking at the most expensive teams in 2026, we'll use active cash spending and dive into who is behind those numbers. (Team figures via OverTheCap; individuals via Spotrac) Jerry Jones can be frustrating with his negotiation tactics, but generally, it mostly comes back to only bite him when he has to pay up for his star-studded roster. This offseason, he was actually proactive, even if it still cost him a lot. Williams got a massive extension with a signing bonus of nearly $32 million.
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