NFL salary cap expected to go up around $10 million

Last year, the NFL salary cap jumped from $123 million to $133 million. That $10 million increase was a pleasant surprise for a team like the Detroit Lions considering they didn't have a ton of space to work with at the beginning of the offseason.

This year, it looks like we're going to see yet another $10 million jump in the salary cap, although it certainly won't come as a surprise this time around. I say that because Lions general manager Martin Mayhew has already been told that the cap could be jumping all the way up to around $143 million for 2015.

Mayhew said he's been told cap will go up about $10 million

— Kyle Meinke (@kmeinke) January 8, 2015

The final number will be established later in the offseason, and I suppose there's always a chance it could come in a bit lower than expected. Last month, for example, Adam Schefter reported that the salary cap is expected to be somewhere between $138.6 and $141.8 million. Then again, the projections a year ago all ended up being quite conservative once the final number was announced, and let's not forget this tweet from last February:

Salary cap projected to rise to about $133 million this year, expected to break $140 million next year and $150 million by 2016, per source

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 28, 2014

If the cap does in fact hit $143 million or some number close to that this year, $150 million certainly seems within reach in 2016. By then, the number will likely go up even more with how much money is currently coming into the NFL, and that's great news for the Lions considering they are hoping to sign Ndamukong Suh to a massive extension this offseason.