Salary cap increases by $12 million

Omnisport confirmed Friday evening the league and union settled on a salary cap of $155.27 million for 2016.

The new mark is almost double the salary cap from the 2003 season, a testimony to television rights fee increases and total revenue hikes almost across the board.

The NFL instituted the salary cap in 1994, when it was $34.6 million for each team.

By releasing Giacomini, Kerley and Cumberland the Jets would free up about an extra $7.5 million and they could potentially free up close to another $7 million by cutting Ferguson’s $14 million cap hit in half, by of course giving him a little more money on the back end.

Teams with the greatest riches on offer in the multi-millionaire pool of free agents include the Oakland Raiders, Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Giants, San Francisco 49ers and Chicago Bears. Three seasons later, they’ll head into a league year with nearly as much under the cap.

INDIANAPOLIS ‐ Teams are going to have money to spend when free agency opens in less than two weeks. Even more avenues for increasing cap space exist, with a Stephon Gilmore contract extension most prominent among them.

The NFL lets teams carry over unused cap space from the prior year into the current season. Now the focal point turns to whether teams will spend the available salary cap.

The NFL and the NFL Players Association have agreed to increase the salary cap by about $12 million.