Matt Light has retired

DaBruinz said:

It actually saves 5 million in cap space. There is the 3.4 million in salary, 100K in roster bonus and 1.5 million in LTBE bonuses.

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That's a lot of cap space saved! Thanks for all you've done for the Pats organization, Matt. Enjoy your golden retirement years with your family!

Ugh! He must have had some sort of lingering injury...or maybe the prospect of fishing / hunting was a lot more appealing than training camp. Can hardly blame him. Too bad; he was a solid player.

This means that BB takes another tackle next week but where...

So he looks noticeably slimmer ...

Is it possible he just got tired of eating so much everyday.

Matt's wife told him either retire or he buys the Charmin until he does.

Anyways - seriously - We are going to be seeing
a ton of Matt Light and he may be retiring from playing but no way is he leaving us.

With any kind of luck he replaces DeOssie on the airwaves.

Good luck Matt. You have achieved glory with the Patriots. Hopefully the rest of your life will bring good tidings as well. Congrats.

So how much cap space do they have overall right now? Over 10 million?

Goddamn you Matt Light! You had another season in you!!

Bold prediction : Light unretires for one final SB run.

randomk1 said:

Goddamn you Matt Light! You had another season in you!!

Bold prediction : Light unretires for one final SB run.

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I would love to see this prediction come true, 100x over.

I was a Light supporter, and I think he took too much crap here on the boards.

Common thinking would point to Belichick's moves on the O-line making a lot more sense now, with Gallery, Koppen, Connelly etc. Of course the Mankins situation threw a wrench into things too. I'm not as 1/2 as worried about Vollmer as some here, so I'm hoping we're okay there.

We'll have to see if he addresses it in the mid rounds of the draft, as I wouldn't be surprised if he did.

One way or another, there will be some guys here in certain positions that aren't 1/2 bad, with cuts coming at WR and OL; especially if any draft picks are used on either position.

Marqui said:

So how much cap space do they have overall right now? Over 10 million?

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I believe they actually had about 10 million approx before factoring anything regarding Light into the picture. Since it's not 'official' and certainly won't be until at least after the draft in 2 weeks, we won't know anything about any 'new' cap numbers/room.

I've heard potential savings from the Light retirement to be anywhere from 3.5 million all the way to 5 million, which would make the 'new' updated number between 13.5--15 million (barring no other moves or signings until the Light situation becomes official).

DaBruinz said:

It actually saves 5 million in cap space. There is the 3.4 million in salary, 100K in roster bonus and 1.5 million in LTBE bonuses.

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Technically it saves $8M since voluntary retirements allow teams to recover the pro rated portion of signing bonuses. That's why Bedard initially speculated on $8M months ago. The question remains will they, as it is their option to persue a reimbursement or not. If they choose not to the money remains on the cap so the savings is $5M. If they didn't intend to pay him $7M for last season then they may not have even paid out the entire $6M signing bonus up front. They often defer those and pay them out in 2 installments over the first 12 months. We won't know exactly what the cap savings are until he officially retires and some intrepid reporter digs into the financial details.

supafly said:

I believe they actually had about 10 million approx before factoring anything regarding Light into the picture. Since it's not 'official' and certainly won't be until at least after the draft in 2 weeks, we won't know anything about any 'new' cap numbers/room.

I've heard potential savings from the Light retirement to be anywhere from 3.5 million all the way to 5 million, which would make the 'new' updated number between 13.5--15 million (barring no other moves or signings until the Light situation becomes official).

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Jason from Jetscap has us at $11.3M before any Light retirement savings. He also has our estimated rookie cap at $4.87M based on making the existing 6 picks.

Well, im shocked. I thought for sure he was pulling a 'show up wk 2 of TC'...I know alot of posters have been screaming for Solder for some time now, but I wouldve liked the o-line a whole lot better with Light coming back. Oh well, time to move on.

I wish you well Matt. You will go down as one of the great Patriots!

So... the roster of potential 4-ringers dwindles to nearly nothing. I suppose it was a pipe dream, but I've always been stubborn this way..

Thanks for the memories matty.

To be inches short 2 times coupled with the number of years between appearances had to go into his thinking.

Shout out to Sciz - LOL - thanks for wasting 30 secs of my life with your very surreptitiously disguised url. :bricks:

Wondering what is making him lean towards retirement? Health? Not into the grind anymore? Wants to puruse other things? I thought he had an outstanding season in 2011. Not quite understanding why he wouldn't play out the final year of his two year contract.

It appears that reports of his demise are greatly exaggerated:

Light noncommital on future - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston

BOSTON -- New England Patriots offensive tackle Matt Light, who has been connected to retirement rumors this offseason, declined to reveal a decision about his playing future on Wednesday.

"No, I'm just rocking and rolling," the 33-year-old Light told reporters when asked about his possible retirement.
...
Asked if he had a timetable about making a decision on his future, Light, who has spent all 11 of his NFL seasons with the Patriots, was similarly coy.

"No, not really. Although my wife has a pretty good idea on what is going to happen with me," Light said, winking at the reporter. "She keeps me pretty busy."

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MoLewisrocks said:

Technically it saves $8M since voluntary retirements allow teams to recover the pro rated portion of signing bonuses. That's why Bedard initially speculated on $8M months ago. The question remains will they, as it is their option to persue a reimbursement or not. If they choose not to the money remains on the cap so the savings is $5M. If they didn't intend to pay him $7M for last season then they may not have even paid out the entire $6M signing bonus up front. They often defer those and pay them out in 2 installments over the first 12 months. We won't know exactly what the cap savings are until he officially retires and some intrepid reporter digs into the financial details.

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It's hard to beleive they wouldn't pursue a reimbursement. He's kind of screwing them by retiring after collecting a $6m bonus that was intended to be spread over 2 years. I would think he has to give that back if he's electing not to perform on his contract for year 2.

It's possible this is posturing or that he may change his mind, but probably he and his family decided they have enough $$ and he should walk away relatively healthy and on an upnote rather than the way most players leave the game. With the medical evidence about concussions, I expect to see more well paid players make the same decision after 10-11 years in the league even if they've still got it.

VJCPatriot said:

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5m more in cap space is significant money freed up for the Pats. The question is who to spend it on?

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I would like us to give Gronk and Hernandez long term deals. The problem here is that if we give them contracts before the Welker deal is done that might complicate things. But we need to keep Gronk and Hernandez for the long term, I mean does guys do great things on the field. It would surely help to have them after Brady retires to.

I haven't seen it verified elsewhere. PErhaps someone jumped the gun reporting this he was at a team sponsered charity even twith Gronk and made no mention of retirement.

If he were retiting I am sure the team would announce it and have Kraft and BB there for a press ocnference.

patsfan13 said:

I haven't seen it verified elsewhere. PErhaps someone jumped the gun reporting this he was at a team sponsered charity even twith Gronk and made no mention of retirement.

If he were retiting I am sure the team would announce it and have Kraft and BB there for a press ocnference.

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Good. I hope he does not retire. He was still going very strong last season. Protecting the blindside is no easy task, and Light was doing it as good as anybody.

patsfan13 said:

I haven't seen it verified elsewhere. PErhaps someone jumped the gun reporting this he was at a team sponsered charity even twith Gronk and made no mention of retirement.

If he were retiting I am sure the team would announce it and have Kraft and BB there for a press ocnference.

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NFL.com says a league source confirmed it. FWIW.