With two weeks to go until the annual free-agency period opens, there’s a growing sense that teams won’t be spending as much money in the past, even though the salary cap is about to disappear.
The feeling has been fueled by talk of teams imposing their own salary caps, which ultimately could prompt the NFLPA to claim that the teams are colluding.
But some league insiders believe that, once the free-agency period launches, someone will start spending a lot of money -- and other teams will follow suit.
That said, many will continue to adhere to their own salary cap/budget, searching instead for bargains, resorting to the cheaper approach of “building through the draft,” and signing up remaining free agents after the market softens in April, May, June, and beyond.