NFLPA Publishes Team-By-Team Salary Cap Numbers, Including Colts

We noted last week that, per NFL.com, the Colts had $11, 781,345 in cap space remaining and 48 contract on the books. This was before Indianapolis agreed to a reported one-year, $3 million dollar with WR Darrius Heyward-Bey and prior to punter Pat McAfee signing his franchise tender (one year, $2.9 million).

Last night, the NFL Players Association released information on the salary cap numbers for each of the NFL teams. Please note that the NFLPA is the union for the players, not the NFL itself. Still, the union has access to the contract numbers for the players they represent, making this salary information very credible.

Mike Chappell of the Indianapolis Star has posted a great chart breaking down each NFL team, and the salaries they have on their books, based on the NFLPA's data.

Regarding the Colts, NFLPA says they have 49 contracts and $11,427,345 in cap space. However, as Mike Chappell noted Wednesday night:

Without seeing breakdown, guessing NFLPA figures for #colts don't reflect Pat McAfee tender and perhaps Darrius Heyward-Bey contract.

— Mike Chappell (@mchappell51) April 4, 2013

It's also worth noting that, per the NFLPA's site, the cap information they have posted will be updated daily at 8:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 4:00 PM and 8:00 PM Eastern. If that's true, then the information may include Heyward-Bey's and McAfee's contracts/tenders. The technicality they can work around is that, as far as I know, Heyward-Bey hasn't signed his contract yet with Indy. So, it's not "officially official."

If NFLPA's information is correct, then that means the Colts still have roughly $3 million to play with in free agency. If Heyward-Bey's contract is not part of their calculations, that would eat up the remaining money. Teams need roughly $8 million in cap space prior to the draft so that they may sign their future 2013 rookies.