NFL Encyclopedia

Plain-English definitions for the NFL terms that actually matter: salary cap mechanics, draft capital, fantasy scoring, and the analytics behind our tools.

All Terms

• Salary Cap: The NFL salary cap is the maximum amount of money a team can spend on player salaries in a given league year. It is set
• Cap Space: Cap space is the difference between the salary cap and a team's total committed cap charges. It represents how much room
• Cap Hit: A player's cap hit is the total amount charged against the salary cap in a given year. It includes base salary, prorated
• Dead Money: Dead money is the cap charge a team must absorb for a player who is no longer on the roster. It typically consists of un
• Cap Ceiling: The cap ceiling is the maximum salary cap figure for a given league year. It is the hard limit that no team can exceed i
• Cap Floor: The cap floor is the minimum amount teams must spend on player compensation over a defined period. Teams that fall below
• Top 51 Rule: During the offseason, only the 51 highest-paid players on a team's roster count toward the salary cap. This gives teams
• Cap Rollover: Cap rollover allows teams to carry over unused salary cap space from one league year to the next, effectively increasing
• Cash Spending vs Cap Spending: Cash spending is the actual money paid to players in a given year, while cap spending is the accounting charge against t
• Salary Cap Projections: Salary cap projections are estimates of future cap figures based on expected league revenue growth. Teams use these proj
• Base Salary: Base salary is the fixed annual compensation a player earns for being on the roster. It counts fully against the cap in
• Signing Bonus: A signing bonus is a lump-sum payment made to a player upon signing a contract. For cap purposes, it is prorated evenly
• Roster Bonus: A roster bonus is a payment triggered when a player is on the active roster on a specific date. Unlike signing bonuses,
• Option Bonus: An option bonus is a payment that a team can choose to exercise, typically adding years to a contract. Once exercised, i
• Incentives (LTBE vs NLTBE): Contract incentives are bonus payments tied to performance benchmarks. They are classified as Likely To Be Earned (LTBE)
• Guaranteed Money: Guaranteed money is the portion of a contract that a player will receive regardless of whether they are cut, injured, or
• Prorated Bonus: A prorated bonus is the annual cap charge created when a signing bonus (or option bonus) is divided evenly across the ye
• Void Years: Void years are contract years that automatically void (cancel) on a specific date. They exist solely to spread signing b
• Average Annual Value (APY): Average Annual Value (APY) is the total value of a contract divided by its length in years. It is the standard benchmark
• Fully Guaranteed Contract: A fully guaranteed contract means every dollar of the deal is owed to the player regardless of performance, injury, or r
• Escalators: Escalators are contract clauses that automatically increase a player's salary or guarantees if specific performance or p
• Per-Game Roster Bonus: A per-game roster bonus (PGRB) is a payment earned for each game a player is on the active 46-man gameday roster. It rew
• Franchise Tag: The franchise tag is a designation that allows a team to retain an impending free agent for one year at a salary based o
• Transition Tag: The transition tag retains a pending free agent at the average of the top 10 salaries at their position. The tagging tea
• Exclusive Franchise Tag: The exclusive franchise tag prevents a player from negotiating with any other team. The salary is set at the average of
• Non-Exclusive Franchise Tag: The default franchise tag that pays the higher of the average of the top 5 salaries at the player's position or 120% of
• Unrestricted Free Agent (UFA): A player whose contract has expired and who has four or more accrued seasons in the NFL. UFAs may sign with any team wit
• Restricted Free Agent (RFA): A player with three accrued NFL seasons whose contract has expired. RFAs can negotiate with other teams, but the origina
• Exclusive Rights Free Agent (ERFA): A player with fewer than three accrued NFL seasons whose contract has expired. If the team offers a minimum salary tende
• Offer Sheet: A contract offer from a new team to a restricted free agent or a player under a non-exclusive franchise/transition tag.
• Right of First Refusal: The ability of a player's current team to retain the player by matching any contract offer the player receives from anot
• Compensatory Draft Picks: Additional draft picks awarded to teams that lost more or better compensatory free agents than they signed. These picks
• Pre-June 1 Cut: Releasing a player before June 1, which accelerates all remaining dead money into the current cap year. This is the defa
• Post-June 1 Designation: A roster designation that spreads a released player's dead money across two cap years instead of one. Teams may designat
• Practice Squad: A supplemental roster of up to 17 players who practice with the team but are not on the active 53-man roster. Practice s
• Injured Reserve (IR): A roster designation for players with injuries that prevent them from playing. Players placed on IR must miss at least f
• Physically Unable to Perform (PUP): A preseason designation for players recovering from injuries sustained before training camp. PUP list players do not cou
• Non-Football Injury (NFI): A designation for players unable to perform due to injuries or conditions not sustained during NFL football activities.
• Commissioner's Exempt List: The Commissioner's Exempt List is paid leave that only the NFL commissioner can order. A player is placed on it while a
• 53-Man Roster: The maximum number of players an NFL team can have on its active roster during the regular season. Teams must cut down f
• Waiver System: The process by which released players are made available to all other teams before becoming free agents. Waiver priority
• Vested Veteran: A player who has accrued four or more credited NFL seasons. Vested veterans bypass the waiver system when released, imme
• Rookie Wage Scale: The CBA-mandated pay structure that determines the maximum allowable contract values for drafted rookies based on their
• Fifth-Year Option: A one-year contract extension available exclusively for first-round draft picks. Teams must exercise the option after th
• Slotted Draft Pick Value: The predetermined contract value assigned to each draft pick position under the rookie wage scale. Each slot has a fixed
• Rookie Pool: The total amount of salary cap space a team must allocate for all of its draft picks' contracts in a given year. The poo
• Undrafted Free Agent (UDFA): A player who was not selected in the NFL Draft and is free to sign with any team. UDFAs typically receive minimum salary
• Draft Pick Compensation: Draft picks exchanged between teams as part of trades, or awarded by the league to compensate for lost free agents. Draf
• Traded Pick Value Chart: A reference chart that assigns a point value to each draft pick position, used by teams to evaluate the fairness of prop
• Compensatory Pick Formula: The NFL's proprietary formula that determines which teams receive compensatory draft picks based on the net value of fre
• Rookie Contract Structure: First-round picks sign four-year deals with a team option for a fifth year, while rounds 2-7 sign four-year contracts. A
• Rookie Minimum Salary: The league-mandated minimum base salary for first-year NFL players. For 2025, the rookie minimum is $795,000, and it inc
• Trade Deadline: The NFL trade deadline falls on the Tuesday after Week 8, after which teams cannot trade players or draft picks until th
• Cap Implications of Trades: When a player is traded, the acquiring team absorbs the remaining base salary and any new prorated bonus, while the orig
• Conditional Draft Picks: Draft picks included in trades whose round or existence depends on specific performance conditions being met, such as pl
• Trade Compensation: The assets exchanged in an NFL trade, typically a combination of draft picks, players, and occasionally cash considerati
• Player-for-Player Trades: Trades where both sides exchange active roster players rather than (or in addition to) draft picks. These are uncommon i
• Sign-and-Trade: A transaction where a team signs one of its own free agents to a new contract and then immediately trades them to anothe
• Trade Kicker: A contractual clause that pays the player an additional bonus if they are traded, typically calculated as a percentage o
• Future Draft Pick Trades: Trades involving draft picks from upcoming drafts rather than the current year's draft. The NFL allows teams to trade pi
• Restructure: A contract modification where a portion of a player's base salary is converted into a signing bonus, which is then prora
• Contract Extension: A new contract that replaces or extends a player's existing deal, typically adding years and increasing total value whil
• Cap Casualty: A player released primarily because their salary cap hit is too large relative to their production or the team's availab
• Backloaded Contract: A contract structured with lower salaries in the early years and escalating salaries in later years, creating short-term
• Frontloaded Contract: A contract with higher salaries in the early years and lower salaries in later years, providing the team with more futur
• Conversion (Salary to Bonus): The process of converting a player's base salary or roster bonus into a signing bonus, spreading the cap charge over rem
• Creating Cap Space: The various methods NFL teams use to generate additional salary cap room, including restructures, cuts, trades, extensio
• Cap Accounting Tricks: Creative but legal contract structures and roster maneuvers that NFL teams use to manipulate their salary cap position,
• Spread the Pain Strategy: A cap management philosophy where teams distribute dead money and cap charges across multiple seasons rather than absorb
• Kick the Can Strategy: A cap management approach where teams repeatedly push salary cap obligations into future years through restructures and
• Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA): The master labor agreement between the NFL owners and the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) that governs all aspects of pl
• Revenue Sharing: The NFL's system for distributing league revenue among all 32 teams and between owners and players. Teams share most nat
• Minimum Team Cash Spending: A CBA requirement that each NFL team must spend a minimum percentage of the salary cap in actual cash paid to players ov
• Performance-Based Pay: An annual fund distributed by the NFL to players whose on-field contributions (measured by playing time) exceed their co
• Veteran Salary Benefit: A cap credit that reduces the salary cap charge for qualifying veterans signed to minimum salary contracts, with the lea
• Expected Points Added (EPA): EPA, or expected points added, measures how much a single play changed a team's expected score. Every down, distance and
• EPA per Play: EPA per play is expected points added divided by the number of plays. It is the efficiency version of EPA: instead of as
• Success Rate: Success rate is the share of a team's plays that gained positive expected points. A play counts as a success when it lef
• Completion Percentage Over Expected (CPOE): CPOE is completion percentage over expected: how often a quarterback completed passes compared to how often an average q
• DVOA: DVOA is defense-adjusted value over average, a team efficiency rating built by Football Outsiders (now published by FTN)
• Air Yards: Air yards are how far a pass traveled in the air past the line of scrimmage before it was caught or fell incomplete. A 1
• Average Depth of Target (aDOT): aDOT is average depth of target: total air yards divided by targets. For a receiver it says how far downfield he is typi
• Yards After Catch (YAC): YAC is yards after catch: the distance a receiver gained from the point he caught the ball to the point he was tackled o
• Pass Rate Over Expected (PROE): Pass rate over expected, or PROE, is how often a team throws compared to how often an average team would throw in the sa
• Explosive Play Rate: Explosive play rate is the share of an offense's plays that went for a big gain, most often defined as a run of 10 or mo
• Pressure Rate: Pressure rate is the share of a quarterback's dropbacks on which the defense got a pass rusher into his face: a sack, a
• Yards per Route Run (YPRR): Yards per route run, or YPRR, is a receiver's receiving yards divided by the number of pass plays on which he ran a rout
• Rushing Yards Over Expected (RYOE): RYOE is rushing yards over expected: how many yards a runner gained compared to what an average back would have gained f
• Separation: Separation is the distance in yards between a receiver and the nearest defender at the moment the ball arrives. Next Gen
• Dropback: A dropback is any play on which the quarterback drops back to pass: a pass attempt, a sack, or a scramble that started a
• Neutral Script: Neutral script means the plays run while the game is still close, usually with the score within one possession and outsi
• Pace (Seconds per Play): Pace is how quickly an offense snaps the ball, measured as seconds of game clock between consecutive plays. A fast offen
• Win Probability: Win probability is a model's estimate, at any moment in a game, of the chance the team with the ball ends up winning. It
• QBR: QBR is ESPN's Total Quarterback Rating, a 0-to-100 score for a quarterback's contribution to winning. It starts from exp
• Passer Rating: Passer rating is the NFL's official quarterback statistic, a formula on four per-attempt inputs: completion percentage,
• Replacement Level: Replacement level is the production a fantasy team can get for free: the best player at a position who would be sitting
• Boom Rate: Boom rate is the share of a player's games that finished as a top-tier week at his position, usually a top-12 finish for
• Model Score: The Model Score is StickToTheModel's own rating of a player, the number that sits next to every name on the site's ranki
• Rain Under: A rain under is a bet on the total points in a game staying under the posted line because of rain in the forecast. Rain
• Closing Line Value (CLV): Closing line value, or CLV, is the difference between the line you bet and the line at kickoff. Bet a team at -3 and wat
• Implied Probability: Implied probability is the win chance built into a betting line. American odds of -150 imply 60 percent; +150 implies 40
• Garbage Time: Garbage time is the part of a game played after the outcome is decided: the leading team is protecting the clock and the
• Strength of Schedule: Strength of schedule is a measure of how difficult a team's opponents are. The NFL's official version, used for draft-or
• Point Differential: Point differential is points scored minus points allowed. It is the simplest team-strength stat and, over a season, a be
• Turnover-Worthy Play: A turnover-worthy play, or TWP, is a pass or a carry that should have been a turnover whether or not it was: an intercep
• Tush Push: The tush push is a quarterback sneak where two or three teammates line up behind the quarterback and shove him forward t
• Hip-Drop Tackle: A hip-drop tackle is when a defender grabs the ball carrier with both hands or wraps him up, then swings his own hips ar
• Dynamic Kickoff: The dynamic kickoff is the kickoff format the NFL adopted in 2024 and made permanent in 2025. The kicker still kicks fro
• Onside Kick: An onside kick is a short kickoff the kicking team tries to recover itself. The ball has to travel 10 yards before the k
• Injury Report Designations: NFL injury report designations are the labels teams must put on hurt players during the week. The practice report says w