2013-03-02: NFL 2013 Salary Cap
The NFL salary cap for 2013 has been calculated to be about $123 million. All NFL teams must be in compliance with the salary cap by March 12th when the new league year starts. March 12th also marks the start of the free agent market in the NFL. Teams that are over the salary cap must let some players go and teams that are under the salary cap are looking to add new players to their rosters. The process sounds simple on the surface but in reality it becomes confusing rather quickly. Many teams routinely exceed the salary cap by manipulating contracts. The Pittsburgh Steelers were about $14 million over the cap until they modified Ben Roethlisberger's contract and changed most of his pay into a signing bonus. Signing bonuses can be amortized over the life of a contract. Instead of receiving an $18 million dollar salary, the player gets a $2 million dollar salary and a $16 million dollar bonus. The bonus will be divided by the number of years in the contract and thus reduce the i...