Cap could hit $160 million in 2016

[Alan]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/03/07/cap-could-hit-160-million-in-2016/

Cap could hit $160 million in 2016
When the salary cap jumped from $123 million to $133 million last week, some suggested it could move to $140 million in 2015 and $150 million in 2016.

Think higher.

One source with knowledge of the process (but not the same source who was on the money — pun lame but intended — when providing info about the 2014 cap) tells PFT that the cap could spike to $145 million in 2015 and a whopping $160 million in 2016.

A large jump wouldn’t be a major surprise. While the new TV deals kick in this year (including the recent Thursday night CBS simulcast), the revenue increase won’t hit the cap until next year.

That raises an intriguing question: Why did the cap go up by $320 million based on 2013 revenues? With a 50-50 split in revenue between the owners and players, the increase reflects $640 million in new money.

The full truth as to the bump, annually negotiated by the NFL and NFLPA, never will be known. The teams, however, didn’t anticipate it. Last October, owners were told that the cap would increase by only $3.3 million, to $126.3 million. More recently, the number was pegged increasing by $128.3 million.

As one source explained it to PFT, that’s the number most if not all owners used when establishing their budgets for the upcoming free-agency period. It means that most if not all General Managers will have to persuade their owners to increase the budget in light of the increased cap room.

In Dallas, that would be an interesting conversation.

Moving forward, teams may want to make multiple budgets, because the information the teams are getting from the NFL has been suggesting much lower growth. For now, it’ll be interesting to see whether many/any teams alter their budgets in light of the unexpected spike in the cap.

Just in time for the Rams to sign Quinn and Bradford.

 

[Tron]

$37 million raise in cap in 3 years, thats insane!!! These QB contracts are goign to get even worse, soon they will have contracts as big as baseball players at this rate.

 

[Alan]

Won't even be close in guaranteed money though.

 

[Tron]

^True that.

 

[mr.stlouis]

My gosh, we're gonna see some rediculous money thrown at Quinn at this rate. But hey, he keeps going at this rate and he'll be a first ballot HOF'er, no doubt.

He's a huge peice of our future dynasty.

We're gonna run the table over the next few years.

 

[Alan]

It will be interesting to see whether most of the money goes to the 5 or 6 elite positions or to enable teams like the Rams to sign a Saffold for 7-8 million per year to play guard.

 

[Boffo97]

This is the 20th anniversary of the NFL salary cap.

The 1994 cap was 34.6 million.

 

[Yamahopper]

Not the Rams but other teams will really start back loading contracts if this is true. It could effect Fa this year to a degree but much more so next. A team like the Cowboys could go nuts.

 

[Flipper_336]

This is the 20th anniversary of the NFL salary cap.

The 1994 cap was 34.6 million.

Using an online tool, if the cap had increased merely by the rate of inflation it would stand at $54.61 million now.

 

[Alan]

I think the problem here will be the uncertainty. If you read the article closely you'll see that nobody seems to really understand the formula. It's going to be really hard for a GM to make CAP plans when he has no idea what the future CAP number will actually turn out to be even if it's just ballpark.

I'll bet they try to iron that out in one of the next meetings of all the teams.

 

[LesBaker]

Using an online tool, if the cap had increased merely by the rate of inflation it would stand at $54.61 million now.

It was nice of Alan to help you with that.....

 

[CGI_Ram]

Better sign Bradford and Quinn sooner rather than later.