:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/28915441/20131014_ajl_al2_037.0.jpg)
Last week, we wrote that the Colts could have anywhere from $33 to $50 million in salary cap space, depending upon whether or not overpriced veterans like Ricky Jean Francois, Greg Toler, and/or Samson Satele would be released. Today, you can add about another $7 million to that figure:
NFL's salary cap now projected to rise to about $130 million, up 5 percent from $123 million last year, per league sources. More $ for all.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 20, 2014
What this means is that the extra $7 million effectively covers signing all draft picks from the 2014 NFL as well as any free agent rookies. This leaves general manager Ryan Grigson with, basically, $33 to $50 million in salary cap space to spend just on veterans.
Keep in mind, Grigson has his eye on 2016, when Andrew Luck will become a free agent and ask for more money than Indianapolis every gave Peyton Manning. And guess what: They'll pay him every red cent.
However, even with Luck's free agency looming, Grigson has more than enough cap space to bring in better free agents and, hopefully, right some of his wrongs from last year.