NFL salary cap continues climb, set at $177.2 million for 2018. Here’s what that means

The NFL’s salary cap is officially set at $177.2 million for the 2018 season, according to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo.

It’s another big jump for the salary cap that was set at $167 million a year ago and has continued to jump significantly in recent years. The increase of over $10 million is the fifth consecutive climb of at least $10 million.

That made for a more than 40 percent climb for the salary cap since 2013:

2013: $123 million
2014: $133 million
2015: $143.28 million
2016: $155.27 million
2017: $167 million
2018: $177.2 million

Here’s the salary cap situation for all 32 teams:

The salary cap number also sets the salary for players who are given then franchise tag:

The spike in salary cap space has resulted in much less cramming numbers to get under the cap. Almost the entire league has room to work with, something that wasn’t true as recent as 2014.

It has also resulted in blockbuster deals for quarterbacks, who continue to get record-breaking deals as the salary cap has freed up more money. Earlier in February, Jimmy Garoppolo set the new standard for pay with a contract from the San Francisco 49ers that averages $27.5 million per year.

The money will likely flow to other quarterbacks, like Kirk Cousins, Aaron Rodgers and Matt Ryan who are probably going to get new contracts soon.