Estimated Cap for 2016

Miguel has them at $148m for next year.

We're in such great shape, and that's without restructuring some contracts.

AzorianPats said:

We're in such great shape, and that's without restructuring some contracts.

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We have a lot of players that will need to be resigned before 2017.

Collins
Hightower
Jones
Butler
Ryan
Harmon
Sheard
LaFell

Compare to Miami and Buffalo, who both suck and both of whom are over the cap..

Rex will have to find some really "spirited players" who will play on the cheap for his juggernaut.. and Miami just hit the flusher again..

Damn, looks good. Chris Jones is probably a goner. Will BB really break up with Mayo?

I looked into this a bit and the FAs projected for 2016 do not appear to be that good.

More guys will be release I am sure but for now it doesn't appear there will be a need or desire to spend much.

BobDigital said:

I looked into this a bit and the FAs projected for 2016 do not appear to be that good.

More guys will be release I am sure but for now it doesn't appear there will be a need or desire to spend much.

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Won't happen, but Doug Martin please!

manxman2601 said:

Won't happen, but Doug Martin please!

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A flyer on Rishard Matthews WR could be nice also, depending on money ofc. But he offers elements Edelman and Lafell are missing.

manxman2601 said:

Won't happen, but Doug Martin please!

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Shoot, I thought it was worth pulling the trigger on a 4th/5th round draft pick LAST year when everyone in the NFL had given up on him. I wonder if there was any consideration?

While we obviously won't be paying for a guy like Martin in FA, the running back position needs to be addressed via the draft and a mid/lower tier FA. I hate to look back in hindsight when it comes to the draft, but I still have a difficult time wondering how we didn't take a guy like Langford in the 4th round.

I suppose the DE position needed some youth, but with 1) Jones under contract for 2 more years coming into the year, 2) Ninkovich as a staple, 3)Sheard as their biggest FA signing, and 4) a DE already taken in the 3rd round ahead of Flowers, it does seem a bit odd to pass on such a quality RB candidate who provided high value in the 4th round. Now Langford is a stud dual threat RB who looks just as good as he did at MSU, and Flowers is among a group of DEs who will be battling for any time--especially if we end up retaining Chandler Jones.

I suppose Belichick must have really felt that we didn't need to draft a RB, as well as his talent evaluation regarding the potential of Trey Flowers. At any rate, no use crying over spilled milk, but seeing him available in the 4th round and watching Belichick take another DE was one of the more maddening moments in the draft for me in a while. Here's hoping that he ends up providing us with a great DL for many years to come.

JMC00 said:

Miguel has them at $148m for next year.

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As you noted in another post, some additional money can be freed up with a couple/few cuts, like always, but when all is said and done it still seems as though we're cutting it a bit closer than we'd like when compared to most years. That seemed to be the case this year as well, at least on some level.

I wonder if the real goal is to buy time until 2017, when we really will be in good shape--even with the 3 bigger names coming up (Jones, HT, Collins). Hopefully, that 15m or so that we should have will go towards retaining at least one of them earlier, rather then later.

Aren't we losing like 10 million in dead money next year? How come we don't have tons more cap space?

supafly said:

Shoot, I thought it was worth pulling the trigger on a 4th/5th round draft pick LAST year when everyone in the NFL had given up on him. I wonder if there was any consideration?

While we obviously won't be paying for a guy like Martin in FA, the running back position needs to be addressed via the draft and a mid/lower tier FA. I hate to look back in hindsight when it comes to the draft, but I still have a difficult time wondering how we didn't take a guy like Langford in the 4th round.

I suppose the DE position needed some youth, but with 1) Jones under contract for 2 more years coming into the year, 2) Ninkovich as a staple, 3)Sheard as their biggest FA signing, and 4) a DE already taken in the 3rd round ahead of Flowers, it does seem a bit odd to pass on such a quality RB candidate who provided high value in the 4th round. Now Langford is a stud dual threat RB who looks just as good as he did at MSU, and Flowers is among a group of DEs who will be battling for any time--especially if we end up retaining Chandler Jones.

I suppose Belichick must have really felt that we didn't need to draft a RB, as well as his talent evaluation regarding the potential of Trey Flowers. At any rate, no use crying over spilled milk, but seeing him available in the 4th round and watching Belichick take another DE was one of the more maddening moments in the draft for me in a while. Here's hoping that he ends up providing us with a great DL for many years to come.

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I'm guessing he wanted to give James White a little longer to make his case. I'm hoping that they draft a RB this year, preferably one who can take on the Blount role.

VectorPrime said:

Aren't we losing like 10 million in dead money next year? How come we don't have tons more cap space?

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See Myths About Dead Cap Dollars

Patriots have 52 players signed for 2016.
Miguel's UNOFFICIAL 2016 Patriots Salary Cap Information Page

Pats have a total of 70 players (53 active, 2 PUP, 14 IR, 1 NFI).
52 of them signed for 2016
6 will be ERFA
4 will be RFA
8 will be UFA

Listing the big decisions that the New England Patriots have to make right around the start of the 2016 League Year (March 9th)

Brady6 said:

We have a lot of players that will need to be resigned before 2017.

Collins
Hightower
Jones
Butler
Ryan
Harmon
Sheard
LaFell

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I could see Harmon signing with another team because he wants a starting spot. He gets quite a lot of playing time as a backup here, but it's still <50% of the snaps.

manxman2601 said:

Won't happen, but Doug Martin please!

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It would be really nice to get Martin if it was for something like $4M per year. It would add another big weapon in our offense, being able to actually run. But the problem with paying RBs is that you can often 80-90% of the production, at a fraction of the cost in the draft. But guys like Martin who can both run and catch are RBs that I think can be worth paying extra for, as it's more rare.

Marinlik said:

I could see Harmon signing with another team because he wants a starting spot. He gets quite a lot of playing time as a backup here, but it's still <50% of the snaps.

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If Ryan continues to play as he is, he'll want to get paid too.