Patriots rookie pool numbers released

[Deus Irae]

According to the PFT Enquirer, the Patriots have the highest allocation in the AFC East:

Bills: $5,940,374

Dolphins: $4,820,998

Patriots: $6,032,711

Jets: $3,429,442

ProFootballTalk.com - 2009 Rookie Pool Numbers

 

[JSn]

Of course we signed eleven-teen rookies, so...

 

[eom]

check out this graph.

edit: 2005

 

[Deus Irae]

check out this graph.

Yep..... instead of a hard curve, that needs to become a gentle slope.

 

[maverick4]

check out this graph.

edit: 2005

Those first round picks aren't worth it.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

According to the PFT Enquirer, the Patriots have the highest allocation in the AFC East:

Patriots: $6,032,711

ProFootballTalk.com - 2009 Rookie Pool Numbers

Miguel's best guess is the Pats are under the cap by $6.7M, looks like the Hobbs trade gave BB some more wiggle room in the draft.

 

[JSn]

Those first round picks aren't worth it.

Not now, but we'll quite enjoy them over the next five to ten years as they're declared washed-up by the teams who drafted them.

 

[eom]

Miguel's best guess is the Pats are under the cap by $6.7M, looks like the Hobbs trade gave BB some more wiggle room in the draft.

ummmm....I'm fairly captarded, but is that how it works?
I didn't think one thing was relevant to the other.

 

[eom]

yeah, it looks like you can get basically 6 second round and later guys for the price of one top 5(?) pick.
I think I like getting the 6 guys.

 

[Rob0729]

I am a little surprised. All four Patriots second round picks probably won't have the cap hit combined that Sanchez will have. Maybe they will depending on the structure.

One thing is for sure their entire contracts combined won't be as much as Sanchez's guaranteed money. If Stafford got $41 million guaranteed, Stafford may get $30 plus million.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

ummmm....I'm fairly captarded, but is that how it works?
I didn't think one thing was relevant to the other.

The Hobbs trade freed up $2.25M in cap room, now the rookie pool numbers are out showing the Pats, who were around $4M under the cap at the time the draft started, have $6M to use to sign their 12 draft picks. Miguel believes the Pats have around $6.7M "after" the Hobbs trade is accounted for - I have no doubt BB knew roughly how much he would need to sign draft picks and how much cap room he had, before and after the Hobbs trade. With the Hobbs & Baltimore trades, NE used two additional picks on Day Two it hadn't had before, the cap money won't be needed until July, so BB didn't have any rush to make roster moves for more cap money, but it probably helped knowing the Hobbs move gave him all the room he needed.

EDIT: I just checked Miguel's FAQ, it seems most of these kids won't count against the Rule of 51 so the actual cap hit is going to be much lower, which makes that $6.7M much more than is necessary. It seems likely only Chung, Brace, and Butler are at risk to break into the Top 51.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

As I've pointed out before, it's not quite as bad as it looks. A lot of the rookies' salaries won't crack the top 51, so only their SBs will count against the cap for now. And the ones that do crack the top 51 will knock a $460K salary off the top 51, so the new money assigned to the cap (I have to calculate it) should come out to somewhere on the order of $2.5M, not $6M.

 

[eom]

yeah, that's what I was thinking --- rookie cap hits displace some of the players currently figured in, so it wasn't like he actually needed the 6m.

he needs that for peppers.

edit: while it may work out that he uses 6m in rookie cap, some of that is already counted by placeholder players.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

yeah, that's what I was thinking --- rookie cap hits displace some of the players currently figured in, so it wasn't like he actually needed the 6m.

he needs that for peppers.

edit: while it may work out that he uses 6m in rookie cap, some of that is already counted by placeholder players.

Just keep in mind that there's two separate issues here: the aggregate sum spent on drafted rookies + unsigned rookie signing bonuses can't exceed the ~$6M cap. But much of that money is already included in the overall cap.

That said, using information from Patscap.com, plus the signing bonus of Jordy Nelson (#36 last year) to calibrate above Terence Wheatley, I did a rough estimate of the numbers. The first number is the player's total cap hit, the second number the "new" dollars that go on the cap (everything above $460K for top 51 salaries, everything above base for the rest).

IN THE TOP 51 (or close to it):

Chung: $770K/$310K
Brace: $725K/$265K
Butler: $715K/$255K
Vollmer: $575K/$115K
Tate: $500K/$40K
McKenzie: $470K/$10K

NOT IN THE TOP 51:
Ohrnberger: $425K/$115K
Bussey: $350K/$40K
Ingram, Pryor, Edelman, Richard: <$330K/<$20K

So, the new money, assuming they all signed today, would add up to about $1.2M; the total is $5.8M.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

77: So best guess is NE still has $5M or so of fun money available?

 

[ctpatsfan77]

77: So best guess is NE still has $5M or so of fun money available?

Not quite. I forgot the addendum that the top 53 salaries count on opening day, so that's another $620K gone, and it's about $1M for the practice squad and injury replacements. So more like $3.5M.

 

[Miguel]

AdamJT13: The rookie pool and the salary cap

may be of help

 

[Isaac]

Not quite. I forgot the addendum that the top 53 salaries count on opening day, so that's another $620K gone, and it's about $1M for the practice squad and injury replacements. So more like $3.5M.

Let's not forget the incentives earned during the season, which count against this year's cap since there isn't one next year. This issue concerns me since the Patriots may need to leave several million $ in room (that seems to be about the incentive $ earned each year).

Not sure if the team could restructure contracts in-season to counter this as they happen (i.e. someone gets their 5th interception therefore player X is restructured).

 

[CanadianPat'sFan]

Those first round picks aren't worth it.

Tell the Falcon that, I am sure the did not mind paying Ryan some money to get the home playoff game.

 

[bucky]

Not quite. I forgot the addendum that the top 53 salaries count on opening day, so that's another $620K gone, and it's about $1M for the practice squad and injury replacements. So more like $3.5M.

That's technically true, except for the technicality that it's highly unlikely that the top 51 guys will ALL make the roster. I would guess (and this is a pure guess) that by the time the final cut to 53 happens, all the higher salaried guys who get cut (Alexander, Al Johnson, Britt, whoever else gets cut) will offset the cap hit of players 52 and 53, as well as all the IR and PUP guys. I also think that the Pats have enough depth on the OL and DL, that if it's necessary to trade a guy like Green or Kaczur, they could do that. But that's another topic for another thread.