Question for Miguel....

[HEY BRO! WHAT UP?]

Or anybody! I have a question regarding cap space on another thread. If a team has unused cap space for this offseason, will that carry over to the following offseason? For example, if the Pats just use their 13-15 million left in cap space on their rookies and hypathetically have 5 million left over and don't use it, would that 5 million be added on to the following offseason? Thanks.

 

[BelichickFan]

You lose it.

There's a loophole in which you can give a player a "Likely to be Earned" bonus, that's actually not likely, which is charged to this year's cap as it's "Likely to be Earned". When it's not earned but has already been charged, the team is "refunded" the cap charge the following year. It's a loophole for carrying money over and has been used by the Patriots and other teams.

 

[HEY BRO! WHAT UP?]

thanks, I just learned something. Now I know why everybody wants the Pats to sign Branch, Graham, Koppen, etc.

 

[Miguel]

More info on the accounting move. I copied this from a post Adamjt13 made on the KFFL forums. Please give Adam the credit for this information.

http://www.kffl.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=47987

"At least 11 teams have taken advantage this season of the rule that allows teams, in essence, to move unused salary cap space from one season into the next.Salary cap rules state that any incentive added after the start of the regular season — no matter how unreachable — is automatically deemed Likely To Be Earned and immediately counts against the cap. The amount is prorated over the remaining years of the contract, which is why the loophole is most often used with a player in the final year of his contract. The rule makes it possible for teams to add unreachable incentives late in the season, thereby using up any leftover cap room. Since the money is charged against the cap but never paid to the player, the team is credited back that amount the following season — effectively pushing cap space from one year into the next. A number of teams, including but not limited to Philadelphia, Denver, Detroit and Seattle, have used this tactic in the past. But it hasn’t previously been used as frequently as it was this season, and never to the extent that Minnesota used it. The Vikings gave themselves an extra $10 million of cap room in 2004 by adding a $6 million incentive to Everett Lindsay’s contract and a $4 million incentive to Fred Robbins’ contract. It should be noted that, in many cases, the cap room pushed into 2004 will be partially offset by earned incentive charges carried over from 2003. A team’s cap adjustment, which determines how much more or less than the set salary cap a particular team can spend, is the total of all credits and charges carried over from the previous season.
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[Miguel]

Please note that I remember reading in March something that says that players and agents have to acknowledge that the LTBE move is just an accounting move.

Please also note that if the 32 NFL teams do not spend a certain amount of cash on players this year future cap limits will be increased

See
http://www.nflpa.org/PDFs/Agents/2006_CBA_Extension_Term_Sheet.pdf
for more details.

 

[HEY BRO! WHAT UP?]

Thanks Miguel!