Salary Cap $177.2 million for 2018
 

The NFL announced the salary cap has been set at $177.2 million for 2018.

That's a $10.2 million increase from 2017. Over the last half decade, the salary cap has risen close to $60 million. With players making more and more each year and the league raking in billions, the cap will continue to rise.

Mar 5 - 7:03 PM

http://www.rotoworld.com/sports/nfl/football

:cool:

It is rising at a ridiculous rate.

Good. Hopefully the Colts do what they have to to stay in CBA compliance while continuing to roll over/have tons of cap room to get quality players, or, after a few more Ballard drafts, (hopefully) retain them.

$177.200m = 2018 NFL Salary Cap
$016.837m = 2017 Colts Cap Rollover
==========
$194.037m = 2018 Colts Salary Cap

$118.380m = Top 51 Current Contracts
$001.110m = Spots 52/53 on Active Roster
$001.779m = Dead Money
$009.877m = Projected Draft Pool (#3 overall is expensive...)
$001.200m = 10-man Practice Squad
$003.000m = In-Season "Churn" Space
==========
$135.346m = 2018 Cap Obligations

$058.691m = Free Cap Space to spend on Free Agents

$58m in cap space buys A LOT of potential free agents at $8m per season averages.

Sure, a CB1 will cost more per season. A WR1/2 might cost more. Nate Solder or Andrew Norwell will cost more.

But a veteran RB, veteran guards not named Norwell, linebackers or depth DEs are all going to cost less.

I don't want Ballard to sign folks just to sign folks....but there is A LOT of money for him to use to fill holes on this roster.

Walk Worthy,

We are in good shape with the rolling 5-year average of being over 93% of the cap.

And if not, then it is just money out of Irsay's pocket paid directly to the players union. It is not impact the actual salary cap unless it falls below some incredibly low threshold like 70% of cap for a rolling 5-year.

Again, cap managment (and contract construction) was the one thing Grigson was good at. The only thing....

Walk Worthy,

Really need Ballard to sign 2-3 difference makers this year. No excuse not to.

Not sure there are that many available. Not a great year to have lots of cap.

This free agent class doesn't have that many of them. After Norwell and maybe Bowman, there are a lot of questions looking to get paid like answers. I don't think that should prevent them from being in on guys like Sheldon Richardson, Nigel Bradham, and Kyle Fuller, but this draft is deep at LB, and most of those guys, like most of the players in free agency, have a lot of risk potential to go along with their reward potential, so I won't be surprised at just about any direction the Colts decide to go in free agency.

In free agency, I would be happy with Norwell, Allen Robinson and somebody who can play decently at either MIKE or WILL.

After that, build through the draft.

This would qualify as my 2-3 quality players that I mentioned above. I would be very happy with those two, Hitchens, and Melvin re-signed on a reasonable deal.

I would be happy with that as well.

Did Hitchens play SAM or WILL in Dallas? Simon would seem to have the inside track at SAM right now.

I think he moved from the weak side to MLB when Sean Lee got his annual injury.

I don’t think he’s a SAM, but he could probably play either WILL or MLB. His flexibility gives Ballard more options in the draft and remaining UFA.

Wonder what it would cost to get Norwell, Hitchens and Watkins? If they could be convinced Indy is worth coming to.

Forgot about Melvin!

Why? He will be one of the top FA corners available and he's still young and on the rise.

Who else do you want as our CB 1 or 2? If he's not resigned then we have to address that position. Hoping Wilson continues to develop. Desir at cb2 or depth and Hairston in the slot are all that's left. Besides backups

Gonna have to draft a good one or pay someone. I'd love for Melvin to be back

Why is everyone in the media saying the Colts have north of 77mil in cap space??

Because they are not as good at this as Sherck

They do not take out the obligations that we have.

Take the 194 and subtract the 118 and you get 76 millionn

OK, now I get it, thanks !

[QUOTE=njcoltfan;58036]Sherck also accounts for monies that cannot be used in FA, while they do simple subtraction.

I hope we can retain Melvin as well but I heard a John Clayton interview a couple of weeks ago suggesting that CB1 contracts are in the $15 range and he thinks Ballard will be targeting $8-9 for Melvin which is more like CB2 dollars so I guess it will depend on whether his perception of himself is CB1 or 2 and whether another team sees him more as a CB1.......I don't think anyone will pay him that (or I hope they wont) and we can keep him.

I wouldn't sign him at $8-9 million AAV, not with the options out there. $5-7 million AAV should get a deal done with him. If not, then other free agents and the draft are also options.

Listened to Holder and Keefer's podcast yesterday. They said the hold-up is that Melvin wants CB1 money and Ballard isn't willing to offer that. Thus, Ballard wants Melvin to test the UFA waters, get a dose of reality, and hopefully they can agree on a reasonable CB2 deal.

That is a great strategy. Sure, Melvin played like a CB1 this year but that has been it. Overpaying for 1 year wonders is what the Browns (and Ryan Grigson) do, not a compentent team.

If someone else pays him CB1 money, then he wins and we win. If no one wants to pay him that much, then I hope his desire to stay with the team that gave him his shot at big money would be an attractive option to come home to.

Of course, that also means that we did not end up signing a different veteran to CB1 money (Malcolm Butler or Prince Alukamara) and thus making him unable to return to the Colts but we will see what we will see.

Walk Worthy,

Bye Melvin. Good luck and thanks.

melvin isnt making 15. 10 tops.

There are better options on the market that would take a contract in the $10 million AAV range.

Yep, Melvin is in for a rude awakening. But hey, maybe that’s his and his agent’s strategy? Ask for the moon and settle for $8MM/year.

I heard today that his agent is Drew Rosenhaus so this one isn't going to be resolved easily or quickly.

Yeah if Melvin is going go be $15 million there are better options out there with a more proven track record than one good season

His agent is one of the best in the business. He isn’t hard to deal with.