The 2016 NFL salary cap is reportedly going to get a massive bump.
In 2015, the NFL salary cap was set at $143,280,000 and was expected by most to jump to $150,000,000. That left the Kansas City Chiefs with about $27 million in cap space following the extension of Travis Kelce.
Then, on Monday afternoon, NFL reporter Rand Getlin tweeted out that the salary cap is actually going to at least $155 million in 2016. This would be huge news for Kansas City, who has a litany of key free agents to retain. This could absolutely be the difference between keeping Sean Smith and/or Jaye Howard.
I'm told the NFL's salary cap is expected to jump to at least $155M this year. Nearly $12M more than last year's ($143.28M).
— Rand Getlin (@RandGetlin) February 15, 2016
As it currently stands (with $155M being the projected cap), Kansas City ranks 11th in cap space at $32,733,632, sitting second in the AFC West behind the Oakland Raiders, per OverTheCap. The Chiefs will certainly put that money to good use, hoping to sign the aforementioned Smith and Howard alongside Eric Berry, Jeff Allen, Derrick Johnson, Husain Abdullah and Tamba Hali.
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We will keep an eye on this. Apparently, the cap could rise even more, helping general manager John Dorsey to keep talent in house and then ad some in free agency.