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CBA
NFL CBA
REFERENCE
PLATFORM
REFERENCE
PLATFORM
The complete 2020 Collective Bargaining Agreement — organized, searchable, and written for football operations professionals. Every rule. Every article. Every detail GMs and front office staff need.
$301.2M
2026 Salary Cap
108
Rules Documented
62
CBA Articles Covered
2030
CBA Expiration
Did You Know?
Practice Squad
Teams can protect only 4 of their 16 practice squad players from being signed by another team each week. The other 12 are fully exposed.
Injured Reserve
Placing a player on IR saves zero cap space. It only frees a 53-man roster spot. The player's full salary still counts against the cap.
Dead Money
A team can owe more in dead cap than they save by cutting a player. If remaining proration exceeds remaining salary, keeping him is cheaper.
Veteran Minimum
A 10-year vet on the minimum counts against the cap at the 2-year rate ($1.075M) — not his actual salary ($1.3M). That's the Veteran Salary Benefit.
Comp Picks
Teams can sign incoming UFAs after May 10 without it offsetting their comp pick formula — adding talent without losing picks.
Franchise Tag
After July 15, a franchise-tagged player can only sign a one-year deal — even if both sides want a long-term extension. That window closes hard.
Browse by Topic
$ Salary Cap
Cap accounting, proration, dead money, incentives, void years, carryover
↗ Free Agency
UFA, RFA, ERFA, accrued seasons, signing periods, tampering
◈ Draft
Rookie wage scale, 5th-year option, PPE, UDFA, pick trading
◻ Contracts
Signing bonus, guarantees, offsets, option clauses, escalators, tolling
≡ Roster Rules
53-man roster, game-day list, cutdowns, 90-man preseason
✚ IR / PUP / NFI
Injured Reserve, physically unable to perform, non-football injury
↺ Waivers
Waiver priority, claims, veteran exemptions, in-season vs offseason
▿ Practice Squad
Eligibility, pay, veteran spots, protections, elevations, poaching
🏷 Franchise & Tags
Exclusive, non-exclusive, transition tag, offer sheets, ROFR
⇄ Trades
Trade deadline, cap treatment, tradeable contracts, restrictions
✦ Player Benefits
Injury protection, termination pay, workers comp, mental health, education
⚖ Discipline & Grievances
Commissioner power, non-injury grievances, injury arbitration, appeals
Quick Reference
Key numbers, deadlines, and rules at a glance — updated for 2026
Cap & Financial Numbers
| Rule / Number | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 Salary Cap | $301.2M | Per team; increases annually with AR growth |
| 2025 Salary Cap | $279.2M | Prior year cap |
| Cap floor (team minimum spend) | 89% | Of cap per club on a rolling 4-year basis |
| League-wide cash minimum | 95% | Combined all clubs' spending vs. total cap |
| Player Cost Amount formula | 48% of AR | Effective 2021+; divided by 32 teams |
| Max signing bonus proration | 5 years | Bonus spread evenly, not to exceed 5 league years |
| Post-June 1 designations/year | 2 | Splits dead money across current + next year |
| Veteran Salary Benefit bonus cap | $1.25M | Max additional comp for vet minimum contracts |
| Injury Protection payment cap (Year 1) | $2M | Plus extended $1M for Year 2 if eligible |
Roster Limits
| List | Size | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Active/Inactive roster (regular season) | 53 | Hard limit; postseason same |
| Offseason / training camp roster | 90 | Includes unsigned draft picks at tryouts |
| Practice squad size | 16 | Up from 10 in pre-2020 CBA |
| Veteran PS spots (any accrued seasons) | 6 of 16 | Added in 2020 CBA expansion |
| Game-day minimum active players | 48 | Up to 5 may be inactive per game |
| PS game-day elevations per week | 2 | Auto-revert after game; max 3× before PS contract must change |
| PS players teams can protect/week | 4 | Protection period begins Tuesday 4 PM ET |
| IR activations per season | 8 | No minimum time requirement under 2020 CBA |
| Preseason games per team | 3 | Down from 4; max 20 combined pre + regular season |
Free Agency & Draft
| Rule | Threshold | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| UFA eligibility (accrued seasons) | 4+ | Expired contract + 4 or more accrued seasons |
| RFA eligibility (accrued seasons) | Exactly 3 | Prior club may tender qualifying offer |
| ERFA eligibility (accrued seasons) | Fewer than 3 | Can only negotiate with prior club if tendered min salary |
| Accrued season requirement | 6 games | Full pay status on active/inactive list |
| Credited season requirement (benefits) | 3 games | Distinct from accrued season; used for pensions/benefits |
| Legal tampering period opens | Mon 12PM ET | 2 days before league year start; agents can be contacted |
| RFA matching window | 5 days | From receipt of offer sheet to match or lose player |
| 5th-year option deadline | May 1 | Of player's 4th NFL season; 1st round picks only |
| Comp picks per team per year | Max 4 | Rounds 3-7; tradeable under 2020 CBA |
| Franchise tag long-term deal deadline | July 15 | After July 15, tagged player can only sign one-year deal |
| Trade deadline | Week 8 Tue | 4 PM ET; after deadline no player trades until new league year |
| Undrafted rookie contracts | 3 years | Not drafted = 3-year deal at league minimum |
| Drafted rookie contracts | 4 years | 1st rounders also eligible for 5th-year option |
Tags
| Tag Type | Salary Basis | Key Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Exclusive franchise tag | Top-5 avg | Or 120% of prior year, whichever is higher; player cannot negotiate elsewhere |
| Non-exclusive franchise tag | Top-5 avg | Player can negotiate; signing team owes 2 first-round picks if original team doesn't match |
| Transition tag | Top-10 avg | Right of first refusal only; no draft compensation if team declines to match |
| Third consecutive tag cost | 144% | Of prior year's tag salary; or standard tag, whichever is greater |
CBA Glossary
Plain-English definitions for every term front office professionals use daily
Quick Answers
The most common front-office CBA questions, answered directly