NFL Salary Cap Set at $143.28 Million, so How Much Room Do Colts Have?

Because the information is needed at the franchise tag deadline, the NFL has officially announced the 2015 salary cap number today at $143.28 million, the highest it has ever been and $10 million higher than the 2014 salary cap.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Teams were informed today the salary cap will officially be $143.28M, per source.</p>&mdash; Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/572444817252208640">March 2, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

For the Colts, their adjusted team salary cap number is set at $152,423,392 according to the NFLPA, giving them slightly over $40 million to spend this offseason on re-signing their own free agents, signing free agents from other teams, and signing their draft picks.  They are expected to be very involved in free agency and in looking to take that final step from good to great and into the Super Bowl.  That's their goal, and it sounds like they plan to be aggressive in trying to reach that goal.  It remains to be seen what moves the team will make, but we now know the salary cap number and we can get a better sense of just how much the Colts will have to spend.  We also have to keep in mind that they will be looking towards the future and towards future contracts for Andrew Luck, T.Y. Hilton, Dwayne Allen, Coby Fleener, Anthony Castonzo, and others, so it's especially important for them to be wise this offseason.  The salary cap should continue to increase each year, but the Colts must be smart in the moves they make this offseason to prepare for those future deals while still trying to be aggressive this year.