How the Patriots can create even more cap space

AvocadoIceCream said:

Ironically YOU all need to read all of his stuff and pay attention to everything he writes. You'll learn so much about the cap, as I have!

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No offense but this is full of irony.

You cited me to support your argument that Forte would not be a good fit for the Patriots when I have been banging the drums on Twitter and on my blogs for the Pats to sign with the Patriots. While I understand and respect the arguments for not signing Forte and/or going after other running backs I just do not appreciate being used to support a position contrary to mine.

That being said, I am glad that you have learned much about the salary cap from me.

My point on Forte is they can't afford to just go pay him 4 mil a year right now. I don't think you'd disagree with that? Maybe you do.

More reason than money, I think he's too old. But that's me personally.

And for the record, I never said you were against signing Forte, just that based on the situation right now, Forte is a long shot. Others thought we had 13 mil to just piss away. I used your cap projections as proof that we don't

Miguel said:

Please suggest how I can make the above point clearer in the blog post.

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Mike the Brit said:

It's confusing to read the post because there are two things going on: moves that Miguel says the Pats could make and moves that he predicts they will make.

When I got to Vollmer I thought: whoah! Then I looked and saw it's not in bold and so I understood he wasn't predicting the Pats would do it. I'm still puzzled why it is there. Sure it's a possibility to save money -- but then you could save $4.8 million by cutting Sheard. Neither seems like a great idea to me. So I'm not sure why one possibility is included and the other not.

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This post was in response to your request above, Miguel.

What is confusing to the reader is this:

1. You give a disclaimer that the moves discussed are your recommendation
2. You put a sub-set of the moves in bold and explain that they are moves you predict the Patriots making.
3. But: it's unexplained why the other, unbolded moves are even there.

I'm not, of course, saying that you aren't clear in your own mind or didn't have good reasons. It would just have upped the readability to have it spelled out, as you do in your response to me (that you are taking suggestions from your Twitter followers).

(By the way, anyone who thinks it's a good idea to cut Vollmer has probably been partying with Chandler Jones, IMHO.)

Miguel said:

Not one of my Twitter followers ever brought up the idea of releasing Sheard. Same reason as I did not include Gronk. I did say that the cap savings for all players could be found on patscap.com

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Mike the Brit said:

This post was in response to your request above, Miguel.

What is confusing to the reader is this:

1. You give a disclaimer that the moves discussed are your recommendation
2. You put a sub-set of the moves in bold and explain that they are moves you predict the Patriots making.
3. But: it's unexplained why the other, unbolded moves are even there.

I'm not, of course, saying that you aren't clear in your own mind or didn't have good reasons. It would just have upped the readability to have it spelled out, as you do in your response to me (that you are taking suggestions from your Twitter followers).

(By the way, anyone who thinks it's a good idea to cut Vollmer has probably been partying with Chandler Jones, IMHO.)

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Where does he say in the article that the moves discussed are his recommendation?

He predicts what will happen with bold and states other possible scenarios in regular font but I do not see where he recommends any action.

Further he clearly states, which is now in a larger font , "Please note that I am NOT advocating nor I am suggesting that the Patriots do all of these salary-cap maneuvers".

I am not attacking you. Just asking.

Mike the Brit said:

(By the way, anyone who thinks it's a good idea to cut Vollmer has probably been partying with Chandler Jones, IMHO.)

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What I thought were more stunning were the Solder/Ninkovich questions.

I have tried to make the blog post clearer based on your feedback.

AvocadoIceCream said:

My point on Forte is they can't afford to just go pay him 4 mil a year right now. I don't think you'd disagree with that?

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They can.

Miguel said:

Excellent use of hyperbole here. Doubt that my plan is blowing up the team.

The 13 million is not more than enough.

Besides signing their draft class the Pats have to

1.) Account for players 52 and 53 (900K)
2.) Pay for practice squad - 1.5m cap space
3.) Cushion for reached NLTBE 46-man active roster bonuses - 1.5m
4.) Account for injuries-Pats used 5m in cap space before season started on 8 IR,2 PUP+injury settlement and then had to replace 10 players during season
5.) Extending Collins and/or Butler will take up cap space

Standing pat does not help the team get younger at the positions that need to get younger at (WR and Offensive Tackle).

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I think that it is useful to consider where we are BEFORE any restructures, singings or extensions.

SUMMARY OF 1-4 (and signing the draft class; is there really a net cost?)
$8.9M needed

BOTTOM LINE is $4.7M and soon to be $0.0M (or $1.5M if one keeps the $1.5 of NLTBE cushion as a current cushion.
We have $13.6M less $8.9M before any transactions.
IMHO, this will all likely be gone when we re-sign or tender our RFA's and very low cost free agents before the season starts.
As a nitpick, the team doesn't need to have a reserve for NLTBE bonuses if they choose not have such. After all, some of the LTBE bonuses will not be earned.

I GUESS
this means that I consider $4.7M a reasonable net amount for RFA's and minor re-signs of free agents.

mgteich said:

As a nitpick, the team doesn't need to have a reserve for NLTBE bonuses if they choose not have such. After all, some of the LTBE bonuses will not be earned.

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Earned NLTBE 46-man active roster bonuses hit the cap immediately. Pats lost 25K in cap space in 2015 when Branch started to play in more than 8 games. He had played in 8 games in 2014.

Tony2046 said:

Where does he say in the article that the moves discussed are his recommendation?

He predicts what will happen with bold and states other possible scenarios in regular font but I do not see where he recommends any action.

Further he clearly states, which is now in a larger font , "Please note that I am NOT advocating nor I am suggesting that the Patriots do all of these salary-cap maneuvers".

I am not attacking you. Just asking.

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The point was not what Miguel said explicitly, but what the reader might have inferred, based on the information given -- if only the bolded moves are ones Miguel is predicting, what status do the others have? At the least, it wasn't immediately obvious to me.

Mike the Brit said:

The point was not what Miguel said explicitly, but what the reader might have inferred, based on the information given -- if only the bolded moves are ones Miguel is predicting, what status do the others have? At the least, it wasn't immediately obvious to me.

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Any suggestions to make the blog post clearer are welcome here.

Mike the Brit said:

The point was not what Miguel said explicitly, but what the reader might have inferred, based on the information given -- if only the bolded moves are ones Miguel is predicting, what status do the others have? At the least, it wasn't immediately obvious to me.

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I hope I didn't come across as dinkish. Thanks for the reply.

Miguel said:

Earned NLTBE 46-man active roster bonuses hit the cap immediately. Pats lost 25K in cap space in 2015 when Branch started to play in more than 8 games. He had played in 8 games in 2014.

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Is the only NLTBE bonus that is recognized in the same year?

mgteich said:

Is the only NLTBE bonus that is recognized in the same year?

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In other words, Miguel, I have never read any of your numerous blog weekly tracking incentive posts

The answer is Yes.

Miguel said:

In other words, Miguel, I have never read any of your numerous blog weekly tracking incentive posts

The answer is Yes.

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Miguel, As of right now how much cap space is available?

thx

bruinator said:

Miguel, As of right now how much cap space is available?

thx

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$17,313,036 which includes the cap savings from Mayo's retirement even though it is not yet official/