The NFL salary cap is increasing again.
According to a report from ESPN's Adam Schefter, the NFL will inform teams at an owner's meeting this week in Dallas that the 2017 salary cap will fall somewhere between $163 million and $165 million. The 2016 cap was set at $155.27 million, so we can expect the increase for next year to be at least $8 million to $10 million.
As the report notes, however, the initial league projections on the salary cap have routinely fallen short of where the actual cap is set when the league does its yearly books in March, so it's possible the cap could jump even higher.
As of now, only three teams have more than $163 million on their books for the 2016 season: the Jets, Chiefs and Cowboys are between $1 million and $12 million over. Though the cap is set at a certain amount for the year, each team is subject to an adjusted cap figure based on how far below the cap they were the previous season. (They get what's called "holdover" cap room.)
Additionally, each team is required to spend at least 89 percent of the cap over a four-year period. They can go below 89 percent in any given year, but have to hit that level on a rolling four-year basis.
