Cap dollars and the Draft

[Aero II]

Last year, there was a lot of talk about how teems needed to be under a certain cap number before draft day. I haven't heard any talk about that this year. It looks like the Titans are only $461,000 under the cap right now. Does any one know if that includes $ set by the league to sign your draft picks? Have the rules changed?

[Ebenezer]

The rule is:

BEST 51: Each team will count the salaries of the top 51 on the team against the cap. If the team does not have 51 players on the roster then that team must have enough salary cap room to add the MINIMUM salary for each drafted player to the roster (e.g., 7 picks x $225,000 = approx. $1.55M) because the draftees will count against the cap. However, if you have 51 players signed then you can be under the cap by $1 and still draft because the guys at $225K would not count against the Best 51 rule.

[Aero II]

So does that then mean that the Jags, who are $306K under the cap have until the day that their top 10 pick signs his multi million $ contract to clear cap space since he will count as one of the top 51 players?

[Ebenezer]

That is correct...when they sign the players they have to clear the cap room to make them fit...

...also, I believe that this year every team has 51 players signed and none of them have to worry about this.