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What was rumored to arrive on Friday, after being delayed several weeks, then pushed back to Monday was actually delivered last night; as the NFL announced the salary cap limit for its 32 members late Saturday night.
$120.6 million is the "Do Not Cross Me, Sort Of" line, per FOX's Jay Glazer's late Saturday night tweet. This was later confirmed by ProFootballTalk.com. The number is up slightly from 2011's $120.375 million figure; which is less than the rookie minimum of $355,000.
@JayGlazer
Jay Glazer Hearing that when the league sets the salary cap on Monday it'll be right around $120.6 million
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Already decided as part of the 2011 CBA that was agreed to last year, team's do not have to meet the minimum salary cap level until the 2013 season and the cap is expected to jump a significant amount when the new TV deals go into effect for the league in 2014.
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A couple of other monetary dominoes fell, as they used formulas based on the cap numbers. From NFL.com's Jason LaConfora.
@JasonLaCanfora
Jason La Canfora Cap #s just released to teams. Cap is $120.6M for 2012 - close to 11 as expected. RFA tenders $1.26M; 2nd rnd $1.927M; 1st rnd tender$2.742M
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This means that the Cowboys lone RFA they tendered, FB Tony Fiammetta, will count $1.26M against the cap; pretty much where expected but now a certainty.
As for the franchise tag numbers, those went up slightly.
@JasonLaCanfora
Jason La Canfora Franchise tags: QB $14.436; RB $7.742; WR $9.515; TE $5.446: OL $9.383; DE $10.605; DT $7.96j LB $8.856; CB $10.281: S $6.212 K/P $2.654
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So should OLB Anthony Spencer choose to sign his tender offer, he'll make about $56,000 more than was calculated a few weeks ago.
Remember, teams are still able to borrow $1.5 million from future cap years, and also allowed to use leftover cap space from the 2011 season. After taking away the space from the dead money charges, Dallas expects to enter free agency with between $12 and $13 million to play with, pending Spencer and Fiametta's tenders, and with several restructure/release options to increase that number.