Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Salary cap expands to $127 million for 2009

Posted: Adam Schefter

The salary cap will grow in 2009.

Because teams didn’t spend as much as they were supposed to under the collective bargaining agreement the past three years, teams were notified Wednesday that the salary cap will increase over $4 million to $127 million for this coming year, according to sources with two NFL teams.

It defies the recession and logic, but just before free agency, teams actually will have more flexibility and salary-cap room. This is tremendous news for teams such as the Colts and Panthers, who are pressed against the cap, and not such good news for teams such as the Buccaneers and Chiefs, who were way under the cap. Now their advantage is somewhat compromised.

Teams believed they would see a mild increase in the salary cap, but this is bigger than teams expected.