Salary cap expected to be $178M, could go up even more

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As part of the new NFL league year that starts in the middle of March, the salary cap is expected to see a significant increase.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports the cap will jump up from $167 million to $178 million and it could go even exceed $179 million. Florio reports that in December, the league estimated the cap would be anywhere from $174.2 million to $178.1 million, but those projections are often wrong.

As far as how this effects the Patriots moving forward, Pats Pulpit reports the team will have roughly $19 million in available cap space, but that number is expected to change over the next couple of weeks.

The Pats will need to re-sign some key free agents including Danny Amendola, Matt Slater, Rex Burkhead and others. They may also look to add to key positions that were a weakness including linebacker and defensive line.

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