The new NFL league year is less than a month away and come that time all teams must be salary cap compliant. According to a Wednesday report by Adam Schefter of ESPN, the league has now notified teams that it expects this year’s salary cap number to be between $140 and $143 million.
NFL notified teams today that it expects this year's salary cap to be between $140 and $143 million, at least $1.5M higher than projected.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 18, 2015
This has been the range that we have worked under since the 2014 season, so it looks like the ceiling will indeed be $143 million.
On Tuesday, NFL.com analyst Gil Brandt reported on Twitter that the Pittsburgh Steelers are currently $839,000 over the cap, but he didn’t say what number that was based on. The Steelers are in a lot better shape cap wise than they have been in years at this point of the offseason as they’ve still yet to make their initial few cuts that usually happen right before the start of the new league year.
As previously stated, wide receiver Lance Moore, defensive end Cam Thomas and defensive end Brett Keisel are the likely candidates to become cap casualties in the coming weeks. In addition to those three, the 2015 status of veteran safety Troy Polamalu can also be questioned. If Polamalu is cut and designated a post June 1 release, the Steelers will free up $6 million in cap space over the summer and that should easily accommodate the signing of the draft class.
The Steelers are still working on getting a long-term contract extension done with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and should a move could also free up a little more salary cap space depending on how it is ultimately structured. Defensive end Cameron Heyward is also due to sign an extension between now and the start of the 2015 season and that deal should also free up even more cap space for the coming season.
