As teams prepare for the process of improving their rosters via free agency and the draft, an early sense has emerged regarding whether teams will be spending in free agency.
Per a league source, they will.
The only problem is that the free-agency class isn’t stellar or deep. And with teams ready to spend, this means that the number of franchise-tagged players could will be higher than usual.
As the window approaches next month for the application of the tag, we’ll do a franchise-by-franchise look at who’s likely to be slapped with the restriction. If teams will be planning to pump cash into the market, look for teams to do what they can to keep their best impending free agent off it.
In December, NFL Media reported that the league projects the salary cap to land somewhere between $174.2 million and $178.1 million for 2018. One source suggested today that it could exceed $180 million.
Wherever it ends up, the money will be flowing, which means that players who are in the right place at the right time could end up getting even more money than they otherwise would.