GUESSING at the Patriots' cap commitment - New England Patriots Forums

***Miguel*** · 03-04-2006, 11:37 AM

I freely admit that I can not reconcile my number with Clayton's 3/2 number.

On January 22 the Boston Globe printed out the salary cap figures for the 40 players signed for the 2006 season at the time. I have no doubt that Mike Reiss used an official salary cap report as the basis for his numbers.

Brady, Tom 14,430,470
McGinest, Willie 8,327,220
Seymour, Richard 7,420,720
Colvin, Roosevelt 5,784,720
Light, Matt 5,323,387
Starke, Duane 5,136,720
Dillon, Corey 4,356,720
Green, Jarvis 3,651,720 * Note - It was reported as $370,000 but this had to be a typo
Vrabel, Mike 3,540,220
Harrison, Rodney 2,838,483
Bruschi, Tedy 2,731,720
Poole, Tyrone 2,516,668
Faulk, Kevin 2,503,720
Warren, Ty 2,225,053
Wilfork, Vince 1,996,720
Graham, Daniel 1,530,470
Watson, Ben 1,426,720
Gorin, Brandon 1,390,053
Brown, Chad 1,242,500
Mankins, Logan 1,176,720
Hochstein, Russ 1,118,386
Miller, Josh 976,720
Beisel, Monty 919,220
Wilson, Eugene 913,595
Johnson, Bethel 834,720
Izzo, Larry 801,720
Branch, Deion 756,720
Pass, Patrick 626,720
Hill, Marquise 621,720
Paxton, Lonie 612,720
Klecko, Dan 546,720
Samuel, Assante 536,845
Koppen, Dan 495,720
Hobbs, Ellis 481,720
Banta-Cain, Tully 474,408
Kanzur, Nick 448,720
Sanders, James 411,720
Cassell, Matt 330,220
Wright, Mike 317,720
Bailey, Rodney 108,334
Reid, Dexter 187,500 * Actually not mentioned in the Globe - added by me
Sam, P.K. 114,000
Stokes, Andy 8,750 * Acutally not mentioned in the Globe - added by me
Claridge, Ryan 352,220

1/22/Total 92,547,561

The Patriots then signed these 11 street free agents.
Mortensen, Todd 241,720
Charles, Earl 241,720
Musinski, Rich 241,720
Stone, John 391,720
Steitz, Nick 241,720
Roehl, Jeff 316,720
Condo, Joe 316,720
Spann, Antwain 241,720
Ventrone, Raymond 241,720
Britt, Wesley 241,720
Krug, Ryan 241,720
Total - 2,958,920

The Patriots cap commitment after the 11 signings - 95,506,481

With 51 players on the roster the rule of 51 takes effect lowering the net effect of a player's signing.

4 more street free agents were signed. Listed below are the net cap effects of their signings. 176,880 total. Example - McGrew is listed as 81,720 because his 310,000 salary displaced a player who had a salary of $235,000 from the Top 51 list.

Smith, Zuriel 81,720
McGrew, Michael 6,720
Thomas, Santonio 6,720
Alexander, Eric 81,720

The Patriots cap commitment after the 4 signings - 95,683,361

Ryan Claridge's salary on the NFLPA site dropped from $310,000 to $235,000 which saved the Patriots $75,000 in cap space.

The Patriots cap commitment after the Claridge salary decrease - 95,608,361

The Patriots then signed Don Davis at a net cap cost of $256,720.

The Patriots cap commitment after the Don Davis signing - 95,865,081

The Patriots then released Duane Starks for a net cap savings of 3,371,720.

The Patriots cap commitment after the Starks release - 92,493,361

I suspect that the Patriots made tenders to their 5 ERFAs (Gay, Yates, Scott, Childress, and Mruczkowski for a total net cap cost of 558,600.

Childress, Bam 6,720
Scott, Guss 81,720
Gay, Randall 156,720
Mruczkowski, Gene 156,720
Yates, Billy 156,720

The Patriots cap commitment after the ERFA tenders - 93,051,961

It was right after the Starks release that ProFootBallWeekly reported that the Patriots' cap number at that time was $500,000 below the then projected cap number of $93.25 million or 92,750,000 so my numbers were in the ball park at the time.

On March 2nd I noticed that the salaries of Branch, Koppen, and Samuel have been increased for a total cap cost of $1,844,000.

Branch, Deion 500,000
Samuel, Assante 252,000
Koppen, Dan 1,092,000

The Patriots cap commitment after the 3 escalator salary increases - 94,895,961

The Patriots signed Hank Poteat at a net cap cost of $256,720.

The Patriots cap commitment after the Poteat signing - 95,152,681

On March 1 John Clayton reported that the Pats were under the new projected cap number of $92 million by $1.5 million implying that the Patriots cap commitment was then $90.5 million. If Matt Light's $2.6 million LTBE incentive was no longer LTBE, then Clayton's report would make sense to me because the 3 salary increases and the Poteat signing probably occurred AFTER 3/1. But if Matt Light's LTBE incentive is now NLTBE, then the only explanation for how his salary goes from $1 million in 2006 to $3 million in 2007 is the reclassification of an incentive does not consitute a signing of a new contract.

Later that day (March 1) according to Clayton the Patriots had $4.1 million of carry-over incentives hitting their cap so the Patriots adjusted cap number would be around 90.413 million.

On March 2nd Clayton reported that the Pats were 4 million under the announced cap limit of $94.513 million. But if the Patriots' adjusted cap number is 90.4 million, then the Patriots would be right near that number before the escalator salary increases and the Poteat signing. If the Patriots were 4 million under their adjusted cap number, that means that their cap commitment would have been $86.4 million - a number that I am at a loss to explain. I also can not reconcile Clayton's statements (implying that the Patriots have a negative cap adjustment of $4.1 million with his report that they are under the cap by $4 million).

cubedoggy · 03-04-2006, 11:59 AM

Excellent work as always, Miguel.
Thanks.

Triumph · 03-04-2006, 12:18 PM

They are under the cap without releasing McGinest. Thats good news.

***Miguel*** · 03-04-2006, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Triumph

They are under the cap without releasing McGinest. Thats good news.

As far as I can tell, the Patriots are under the cap only if the LTBE incentives of Light was changed to NTLBE.

***AndyJohnson*** · 03-04-2006, 12:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Miguel

As far as I can tell, the Patriots are under the cap only if the LTBE incentives of Light was changed to NTLBE.

It would seem to make sense that any LTBE incentive by Light would now be NLTBE since he missed so many games, right?

If the incentive we so small that he could have hit it last year, in the number of games he played, it seems illogical that it would have been written as an incentive rather than just salary.

I guess the only thing contrary to that would be if the incentive were if the team made the playoffs??

***BelichickFan*** · 03-04-2006, 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Triumph

They are under the cap without releasing McGinest. Thats good news.

Don't get too excited, this is with us losing Vinatieri, Givens, Neal and Ashworth. We need to get some real money under the cap to make up for those real loses.

hwc · 03-04-2006, 12:51 PM

I'm at a loss to figure out how the Pats could have had $4.1 million in carry-over incentives. Other than Brady, nobody else of any consequence on the roster even played a full season, let alone had a stellar year statwise. What kind of NLTBE incentives could have been earned that would give the Pats the second highest cap adjustment in the league?

It certainly wasn't any of the running backs. It certainly wasn't the defense. Maybe some of the journeymen who saw significant playing time hit some incentives, but how big could those be?

***Miguel*** · 03-04-2006, 12:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndyJohnson

It would seem to make sense that any LTBE incentive by Light would now be NLTBE since he missed so many games, right?

If the incentive we so small that he could have hit it last year, in the number of games he played, it seems illogical that it would have been written as an incentive rather than just salary.

I guess the only thing contrary to that would be if the incentive were if the team made the playoffs??

What you say makes perfect sense to me.

***PatsWickedPissah*** · 03-04-2006, 01:01 PM

NLTBE possible offensive incentives
Brady - his passing yards, etc.
The Twig - starting in X games, as opposed to prior injury plagued seasons
Watson, Graham - games played
Tim Dwight - most any stat

***Miguel*** · 03-04-2006, 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hwc

I'm at a loss to figure out how the Pats could have had $4.1 million in carry-over incentives. Other than Brady, nobody else of any consequence on the roster even played a full season, let alone had a stellar year statwise. What kind of NLTBE incentives could have been earned that would give the Pats the second highest cap adjustment in the league?

It certainly wasn't any of the running backs. It certainly wasn't the defense. Maybe some of the journeymen who saw significant playing time hit some incentives, but how big could those be?

A couple of possibilities - Branch and Givens had career years. Dwight had much better stats in 2004 than in 2005. According to his agent he had $1.5 million in incentives.