The number represents a almost $12 million increase over the 2015 salary cap of $143.28 million.
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Teams can begin negotiating with agents for possible free agents on March 7, but no deals can be finalized until the new league year begins on March 9.
The NFL Players Association has been informed that the NFL salary cap for 2016 has been set at $155.27 million, union sources and player agents told NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport on Friday.
With the addition of more than $100 million to the pool, the salary cap was increased by about $1.5 million, spreading out another $50 million to be spent on players.
Under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, every National Football League organization is given the option to carry the cap space over to the following year, and this recent year saw a surplus of money being carried over.
The Patriots could free up even more space by releasing or restructuring the contracts of veteran players with high cap figures.
The Patriots could use much of their available cap space to extend the contracts of key defenders Dont’a Hightower, Jamie Collins, Malcolm Butler, Logan Ryan and possibly Chandler Jones.
Next behind Jacksonville were Tennessee with $20.78 million and Cleveland with $20.73 million.
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By the end of 2016, the 32 teams must spend an average of 95 percent of the salary cap over the four-year period that began in 2013.
