Not sure if they still do it now, but when Major League Soccer was trying to grow and compete with the other big soccer leagues around the world, they had a rule where every team was allowed to sign one international player (a star) and that guy would not count against their salary cap. Biggest example was David Beckham going to the L.A. Galaxy for a few years. Maybe in the NFL every team could designate a "doesn't count against the cap this year" player, and then the next year they'd have to reevaluate and decide if that guy should remain the guy, or do they "tag" someone else for that designation, and figure out how to get back under the cap somehow? Just brainstorming :)