The new NFL CBA was approved on Sunday, and in it, the Las Vegas Raiders will now play a 17-game regular season among other new rules.
On Sunday, the NFL announced that the new ten-year CBA had been approved, albeit by a much smaller margin than originally expected. The vote came in with 1,019 votes for yes, and 959 for no, and with that, there will be a ton of new rules coming out of this.
The biggest would have to be the new 17-game regular season, which likely will not begin for another year or two. In addition, there is a higher salary cap for the 2020 NFL season, and starting immediately, teams cannot use both the transition and franchise tag this season.
Also within the new CBA is the fact that the playoffs will be expanded from 12 teams to 14 in 2020, with seven teams making it per conference, and only one team receiving a bye. That should significantly impact the Las Vegas Raiders, who have been in the playoffs only once since 2002, and are starting to build up their roster to be perennial playoff contenders.
During the 2019 NFL season, the league salary cap was $188.2 million, and with this new CBA, that number will jump up $10 million. That is great news for the Raiders, who will be very active in free agency this offseason, and have already shed cap space by releasing linebacker Tahir Whitehead.
Since bringing Mike Mayock on board as the new general manager, the Raiders have started breaking down the roster, and building back up the right way. They dominated the 2019 NFL Draft, and head into the new league year in better shape financially than they have been in a long time.
With the team heading to a state with no state tax, and a brand new $2 billion stadium, the Silver and Black should be quite enticing for free agents. The extra $10 million in their pocket should go a long way in ensuring the team revamps the defense for the 2020 season.
Overall, it is a great time to be a Raiders fan, as they have young players in place, better cap space, and two first round draft picks this April. With so much uncertainty surrounding the world, the new CBA was a little slice of normalcy in the sporting world, and on Monday, the legal tampering period will kick off.