While we are still a few weeks away from the league determining the official salary cap number for the 2016 season, media estimates continue to have the final figure creeping ever so higher.
On Monday, Rand Getlin of the NFL Network reported on Twitter that he’s now been told that the salary cap is expected to jump to at least $155 million this year.
Getlin’s latest report isn’t overly surprising, but not soon after it hit social media, George Atallah, the NFLPA Assistant Executive Director of External Affairs, cautioned that the actual salary cap number is not calculated until a few days before the league year. He also added that many a “journalist” have in the past reported an actual cap number citing “sources” early, only to wind up looking silly later on. In other words, nothing is official until it is released by the league.
Atallah went on to reiterate Monday that the leagues salary cap number is not a negotiation. Instead, it is a direct function of league revenues.
For the last few weeks, I have been working off of an estimated final cap number of $154 million. Should the number come in a bit higher than that, that will obviously be good news for the Pittsburgh Steelers as well as for players around the league.
