FRIDAY, 9:59am: NFLPA president DeMaurice Smith told agents today that the union expects the 2015 cap to be “no less than $143MM,” a source tells Tom Pelissero of USA Today (Twitter link).
THURSDAY, 3:27pm: Three sources tell Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (Twitter link) that the NFLPA is expected to unveil its 2015 salary cap projection on Friday, and that the union’s prediction could be as high as $143.5MM.
WEDNESDAY, 1:12pm: Back in December, the NFL projected a salary cap of $138.6MM for the 2015 season, but that figure is on the rise as the new league year approaches, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com. Schefter reports (via Twitter) that the league informed teams today that it expects the cap to ultimately land between $140MM and $143MM.
When the league issued its original projection, a number of reports indicated that the figure would likely be a little low. The NFL Players Association quickly sent out a memo to agents and contract advisors, suggesting that the estimate was underestimating the likely growth of the cap from 2014’s $133MM. Most outlets have been anticipating a cap in the neighborhood of $140MM or $142MM for the last several weeks.
The NFLPA has said that it intends to issue its own projection for the 2015 cap, but if that’s going to happen, it will have to be soon — last year, the actual figure was announced by the league at the end of February, so we should find out within the next couple weeks where the cap will land for ’15. Once the cap is set, teams will also be able to determine the one-year salaries for franchise tags.