You may think that the patriots don't believe in signing bonuses or deferring money. As of now, there is $37M deferred into 2015, including $4M of dead money. Every time the team signs a contract with a signing bonus, money is deferred into the future.
So, you may believe that the patriots don't defer money, but they really do. All the jumping up and down won't change that.
=============
Personally, I think that you should man up and make your REAL argument more clearly. You think that it is a mistake to pay a corner $12M-$15M a year. It is just too high a proportion of the cap. Perhaps, we might look to recent history to see how Belichick feels about the value of a cornerback. Well, last year, Belichick signed Revis to $12M contract with $20M option, deferring 5 of the 12 million into this year. Was Belichick so wrong to play out $12M for a corner?
When PATs have made a contract I think they have projected the implications of the contract long term.
They have NOT got themselves into CAP trouble like other teams because they stick to their these
principles even if they have to let players go. Redoing contracts to free up CAP space has been done but
still with an eye to the future. Have you ever seen them redo a lot of contracts pushing a lot of CAP to future year(s) for just one player one player? If they have to push 25M Cap to 2016 which may result in
them being over CAP by 20M or so next year to get Revis I do not think they would do it.
I really do not care if they pay Revis 20M a year. If they can pull if off I will be as happy as anyone to
have Revis on board. What I, as a Fan, would be upset about is if in future years this team has to lose
key players because they got themselves into CAP hell just so they could have one player.
I just think redoing a lot of contracts and also taking on 17M CAP hit for one player in 2016 as you
suggested is something to be considered very carefully or they might end up like the Saints.
As a fan I want this team to be as strong for years to come and not be handcuffed because of CAP issues.
As for paying 12M for Revis last year, they didn't get Talib and they had CAP space to
do it even though it probably meant they were going to be over CAP this year.
By the way, when is the last time their 51 top players were over CAP this time of the year?
PATS are one of the worst 3 teams in the league when considering CAP space right now.
The Seahawks have 23M to work with. PATS got (-4M). This is not a team that should be
considering taking on a huge CAP obligation unless they don't care about future years.
If they let Revis walk they'll be under CAP by 15M, where they have been often at this time of the year. They can then sign McCourty, Ghostkowsi and some of their other FAs but will still need to free up CAP
space for other needs. If they bite on a Revis deal like you suggested I'll be surprised.
Bottom line: Revis is a Luxury the CAP poor PATS can't afford.