Salary cap for 2017 is $167M, up $12M
NEW YORK >> The NFL salary cap for the upcoming season will be $167 million per team, up more than $12 million over last year.
The league and the NFL Players Association compile the cap from specific revenues, and it has risen annually. It was $143.28 million two years ago.
This is the fourth consecutive year the cap has risen at least $10 million.
Player benefits also are included under the 10-year labor agreement reached to end the 2011 lockout. That comes to $37 million per team, bringing the players’ total compensation package to over $200 million per club for the first time.
In comparison, baseball had 12 teams with luxurytax payrolls beyond $167 million in 2016.
Since 2011, the cap has increased by $47 million.
Also, 2017 is the first year of a four-season minimum spending period of 89 percent per club and 95 percent leaguewide.
Bears opt not to franchise Jeffery
INDIANAPOLIS >> The Chicago Bears have decided not to apply the franchise tag to receiver Alshon Jeffery.
General manager Ryan Pace says the tag “really wasn’t an option for us” this time, though he’s not ruling out re-signing him once free agency begins on March 9.
Pace says there are “certain instances where testing the market is a necessary part of the process” to determine a player’s value. He spoke at the NFL combine on Wednesday.
Jeffery played last season on the franchise tag after he and the Bears were unable to agree to a multiyear deal. He also served a four-game suspension for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs.
Report: Gordon to apply for reinstatement
CLEVELAND >> Browns executive Sashi Brown has been in touch with suspended wide receiver Josh Gordon since he entered rehab, but does not know if the troubled former Pro Bowler will apply to the NFL for reinstatement.
Gordon’s business manager, Michael Johnson, told ESPN that the 25-year-old will appeal to Commissioner Roger Goodell to allow him back in the league.
Gordon hasn’t appeared in a regular-season game since 2014. He was days away from returning last season but voluntarily entered a rehabilitation facility in September.