The 3.871 has nothing to do with Salary increases. The 3.871 is the amount that was left over from the Patriots having LTBE bonuses that went UNMET last year and the NLTBE bonuses that were met last year. And NLTBE bonus that was met last year does become a LTBE bonus this year if its still in the contract.
Miguel has already figured in the salary additions for Caldwell, Scott, Warren, and Wilson to get to the 13.3 million.
Indeed, it's the ~$3 million LTBE in the Koppen deal plus the ~$3 million in the Spann deal minus any incentives actually earned last year (and all the other plus/minuses you mention).
It's all the money that the Patriots didn't "spend" last year. Pats1 correctly points out that they ended the year with, what, 78 cents on the cap. This is the money they pushed forward, but could have spent last year.
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