The NFL will announce the 2017 salary cap in March, but in the meantime, rumors are circulating following the league’s recent owners’ meeting. Over the weekend, Adam Schefter reported the cap was expected to be somewhere between $163 million and $165 million. At the time, former agent Joel Corry tweeted that the cap has usually come in 3.5-3.5 percent higher than initial projections. He said if that held true, it could result in a cap over $168 million.
The owners met this week, and they were informed of some early projections. USA Today NFL writer Tom Pelissero reported Tuesday afternoon that the owners were informed the 2017 per team salary cap is projected to be between $166 million and $170 million.
The San Francisco 49ers are going to have a huge amount of cap space regardless of whether the cap is $163 million or $170 million. Jason Hurley used $168 million in our 2017 cap page, while Over The Cap has been using $166 million. Either way, the 49ers have $45 million or so in cap space, not even factoring in the the space the $40 million or more the 49ers can elect to roll over from this year.
While the 49ers will have a ton of cap space, they are far from the only ones in good position this coming offseason. The Browns, Jaguars, and Titans are among several teams that could be rolling in cap space. If the 49ers actually do try and make some moves in free agency, they face a lot of competition. And with teams facing the start of a new four-year minimum cash spending rule (2017-2020), it will be interesting to see if we see some big spending around the league.