The projected salary cap figure for 2017 that’s been bandied about in recent weeks of $168 million wasn’t exactly right, but it’s pretty close.
A league official told Judy Battista of NFL Media that the salary cap will actually be set at $167 million for the coming season. That’s a rise of about $12 million from last season and the cap has gone up about $47 million over the last five years.
Some of the biggest beneficiaries of the continued rise in the cap will be the players who hit the open market as free agents next week as they’ll see plenty of that money funneled toward their bank accounts. Given this year’s crop of free agents, that’s sure to lead to a few deals that leave people scratching their heads in the early days of free agency but the combination of being free to sign anywhere and the amount of money teams are required to spend makes it a good time to be out of contract.
The Browns, 49ers, Buccaneers and Jaguars are among the teams with the most cap space heading into free agency.