John Clayton had the story on ESPN.

  NFL teams will have a $3 million exemption for this season, then three $1.5 million exemptions next year.  The exemptions would reduce a players salary cap number by the amount of the exemption.  So, if a player counts $6 million against the cap, after the exemption they would count only $3 million.  This is the first time the NFL will have any mechanism that allows a team to essentially exceed the salary cap.  It is an interesting development, and could be a guide for changing the way the NBA exemptions work.  The current NBA exemptions only allow for signing a player or players with salary totaling the amount of the exemption, about $6 million for the midlevel exemption, for example.  The NBA exemptions also only apply to a team that is over the cap, while there is no mention of that for the NFL exemptions.  With the NFL exemptions, a team that is $5 million under the cap could sign a player to an $8 million contract.  They can also apply it to players already on the roster so that the team can keep it's players and get under the cap.    It is much more flexible than the current NBA rules, and the NBA should look at it as they move forward.