The salary cap will grow in 2009.

Teams were notified that the salary cap is increasing over $4 million to over $127 million for this year, according to sources with two NFL teams. The collective bargaining agreement calls for cap adjustment down if teams spend over cap in cash and adjustment up if they do not spend up to the cap. It defies the recession and logic, but just before free agency, teams actually will have more flexibility and more salary-cap room.

This is tremendous news for teams pressed against the cap such as the Colts and Panthers, and not such good news for teams that were way under the cap such as the Buccaneers and Chiefs. Now their advantage is somewhat compromised. Teams had been expecting a mild increase, but it was bigger than teams expected.