Salary Cap now $132 million

[DaBruinz]

Re: Salary Cap upped to 130M..per ESPN

Yes is does and thats not counting a Vince Wilfork and Possibly Logan Mankings restructure. For them to keep Edelman and Talib that 130M is gravy. First things first they can now address their own and not let em test the waters. Both Edelman and Talib like it or not will be coveted by other Teams. I dont think either is seeking a break the bank type deal.

Like it or not, Talib and Blount still have stigmas about them. Both had issues in Tampa and, like it or not, people know that players come to New England and either toe the line or are gone. Other teams don't have that reputation. And some that did (Baltimore/Pittsburgh/Indy) have been tarnished.

You may get an Oakland team that wants to throw a ton of money at Talib, which would be fine, but the Pats have always had a pretty set idea in their mind what a player is worth since BB took over. And, other than the mistake of Chad Johnson, I can't really think of a player that BB has over-paid.

I think that Edelman knows he has a good thing here in New England and that the Pats will do what they can to keep him.

Talib, I'm not sure about. As others mentioned, he's been injury prone. The Pats could let him sign for big money elsewhere and either look towards the draft again or someone who has been cut. Also, Logan Ryan is poised to take another big step. It will be interesting to see if he can. Not to mention that, hopefully, Dennard will have all his legal BS behind him...

 

[Miguel]

Re: Salary Cap upped to 130M..per ESPN

This increase may, not will, affect the Pats in these two ways.

1.) It will increase any RFA tender offer to Danny Aiken. With a $130M salary cap (5.69% increase), RFA tenders should now be $1.398M (draft round), $2.138M (2nd round) & $3.043M (1st round).

2.) It will increase any franchise tags RB-$9.325M; S-$8.249M; TE-$6.894M; WR-$11.858M; CB-$11.567M; DE-$12.82M; DT-$9.436M; LB-$11.196M; OL-$11.434M; P/K-$3.476M; QB-$16.531M

 

[supafly]

Re: Salary Cap upped to 130M..per ESPN

I think that Edelman knows he has a good thing here in New England and that the Pats will do what they can to keep him.

I tend to agree with you that Edelman may realize that he has a good opportunity to continue to move forward in the right setting. Hopefully, we don't see another team step in and throw significantly more money at him.

Talib, I'm not sure about. As others mentioned, he's been injury prone. The Pats could let him sign for big money elsewhere and either look towards the draft again or someone who has been cut. Also, Logan Ryan is poised to take another big step. It will be interesting to see if he can. Not to mention that, hopefully, Dennard will have all his legal BS behind him...

I think the CBs have to be considered both in free agency, and also the draft as well. While you make a nice point that guys like Logan Ryan may take a bigger step forward, I'm not as sure that we could get away with having him start alongside Dennard just yet.

And even Dennard has only started in 6 and 9 games during his 2 year tenure himself, and that's setting aside his legal problems--which you already mentioned.

While one should probably feel reasonably positive about our overall depth at the position of CB, I'm not quite as certain that we'd have solid and consistent enough starters, should Talib end up walking.

I actually would love to see them target another higher profile free agent, should that happen, but there's certainly a possibility that it may be explored in the draft yet again.

 

[Miguel]

Re: Salary Cap upped to 130M..per ESPN

I'm calling Fitzgerald agent right now

Why?? This increase does not make it any easier for the Cardinals to trade Fitzgerald.

 

[Miguel]

Re: Salary Cap upped to 130M..per ESPN

The thing about the cap is we have a clean cap in 2015, with 45 players under contract for $95,146,587 per over the cap. We also have no dead money right now set to hit it. Sopoaga and A Wilson will shave another $5,000,000 off that. Which means with 43 players under contract we would around $40M under the salary cap, we also could receive cap credit for Hernandez and we have flexibility to release players like Mankins, Amendola and Arrington if they do not perform up to par. With that in consideration, we can get creative with the contracts and stager the hits to increase in 2015 and beyond if, we sign players this offseason.

Excluding the Hernandez reference the same thing is true for the rest of the NFL.

 

[Gumby]

Re: Salary Cap upped to 130M..per ESPN

Normally I am happier when the cap stays level, because I think the Pats do a better than avg job of managing the cap over the long term. It is one of their corporate strengths. So a hard, not so floating cap tends to hurt our opponents more than it does the Pats. But THIS YEAR is different, and I am glad it is going up.

While as many have said the actual impacts on what players we retain or FAs we pursue may not be all that great; I think everyone is downplaying the PROPORTIONAL benefits to the Patriots of this 'new-found' money DUE TO THE TIMING.

Here is the recent history of the cap:

Year Maximum Team Salary
2013 $123 million
2012 $120.6 million
2011 $120 million
2010 Uncapped
2009 $123 million

The (historical) timing of this 5.6% increase coming in the very year that the Patriots have a HUGE AH dead money hit and a huge hit from VW's salary balloon; is a real godsend. Everyone is focused on it as "oh everyone was expecting a +5M increase so a +7M is not such a big deal."

Just think about it if we were taking that "not so big deal 2M" change (from the ANTICIPTATED cap - NOT the ACTUAL PREVIOUS YEAR CAP) the other way (to a $126M cap). Or even worse, what if the cap + was tracking with a recent avg of 2011-2013 (-3 [skipping the uncapped year], +0.6, +2.4) would give you a cap of only $123M (3-yr avg) to $124.5M (using only last 2 years delta-data).

while all the teams gain a bit more flexibility with this; the Patriots benefit more than most; because they have those 2 bills coming due this year that are NOT NORMAL PATS cap management strategies. So this gives them essentially a write-off of an equivalent amount to at least one of those two cap mgmt issues/mistakes.

 

[ausbacker]

Re: Salary Cap upped to 130M..per ESPN

Normally I am happier when the cap stays level, because I think the Pats do a better than avg job of managing the cap over the long term. It is one of their corporate strengths. So a hard, not so floating cap tends to hurt our opponents more than it does the Pats. But THIS YEAR is different, and I am glad it is going up.

While as many have said the actual impacts on what players we retain or FAs we pursue may not be all that great; I think everyone is downplaying the PROPORTIONAL benefits to the Patriots of this 'new-found' money DUE TO THE TIMING.

Here is the recent history of the cap:



The (historical) timing of this 5.6% increase coming in the very year that the Patriots have a HUGE AH dead money hit and a huge hit from VW's salary balloon; is a real godsend. Everyone is focused on it as "oh everyone was expecting a +5M increase so a +7M is not such a big deal."

Just think about it if we were taking that "not so big deal 2M" change (from the ANTICIPTATED cap - NOT the ACTUAL PREVIOUS YEAR CAP) the other way (to a $126M cap). Or even worse, what if the cap + was tracking with a recent avg of 2011-2013 (-3 [skipping the uncapped year], +0.6, +2.4) would give you a cap of only $123M (3-yr avg) to $124.5M (using only last 2 years delta-data).

while all the teams gain a bit more flexibility with this; the Patriots benefit more than most; because they have those 2 bills coming due this year that are NOT NORMAL PATS cap management strategies. So this gives them essentially a write-off of an equivalent amount to at least one of those two cap mgmt issues/mistakes.

Jerryworld thinks it's fantastic. In fact, he'd like the cap raised to 150 million.

 

[supafly]

Re: Salary Cap upped to 130M..per ESPN

Jerryworld thinks it's fantastic. In fact, he'd like the cap raised to 150 million.

And the funniest thing about this statement is that they'd still be over the cap with this figure

 

[jsull87]

Re: Salary Cap upped to 130M..per ESPN

Why does it change anything? We will have more money to retain both Edelman and Talib, but other teams have more money to try and lure one of them away. Doesn't it pretty much equal out?

It does equal out.. if they hit FA.

It just gives us a bit more to spend in trying to retain them before they hit the market.

 

[Miguel]

Re: Salary Cap upped to 130M..per ESPN

because they have those 2 bills coming due this year that are NOT NORMAL PATS cap management strategies.

How is Wilfork's 2014 cap number not normal for the Pats?

It is only a million dollar more than his 2013 cap number. It is also only a million dollars more than Mankins.

 

[Brady6]

Re: Salary Cap upped to 130M..per ESPN

How is Wilfork's 2014 cap number not normal for the Pats?



It is only a million dollar more than his 2013 cap number. It is also only a million dollars more than Mankins.

Very true, I understand the desire to restructure/extend Wilfork it makes sense. I would not mess with Mankins contract, the gain is not significant enough to justify the future cap implications in my opinion.

 

[supafly]

Re: Salary Cap upped to 130M..per ESPN

Not necessarily. With the extra wiggle room (I am not saying we should or should not) it may be possible to franchise Talib, and move his contract negotiations into next years cap budget, and still maintain an acceptable cap this year.

I respectfully disagree with you 100%.

There's no way in HELL that the New England Patriots (or anyone else for that matter) would consider paying Aqib Talib 11.5+ million dollars in a guaranteed salary cap hit for 2014.

I'm guessing that the Patriots are looking to have his 2014 cap hit at something about 33% (1/3) of that 11.5+ million dollars.

Talib misses an average of 21-22% of every one of his 6 seasons, has yet to complete a season at the end of the year with his team, and has a chronic hip concern that has plagued him for 3-4 yrs now. He's worth about 50% of that 11.5+ million per season on average, and that's at best. I suppose a reasonable argument can be made for 6-7 million per year if/when you'd include any incentives, although there are even some who would consider 7-8 million AAV (as you can tell, I am not one of them).

Actually, I will be rather surprised if more than maybe ONE cornerback is hit with the franchise tag for 2014. We'll know the answers to both of these questions soon enough.

 

[supafly]

Re: Salary Cap upped to 130M..per ESPN

Very true, I understand the desire to restructure/extend Wilfork it makes sense. I would not mess with Mankins contract, the gain is not significant enough to justify the future cap implications in my opinion.

Yes, let's get V Wheezy extended, lower the cap hit, and see him retire a Patriot.

Let's hope for an agreement from Bianca first, however. That's my concern.

 

[ripatsfan91]

Re: Salary Cap upped to 130M..per ESPN

Yes, let's get V Wheezy extended, lower the cap hit, and see him retire a Patriot.

Let's hope for an agreement from Bianca first, however. That's my concern.

Good call. I say extend his contract two years with very little guaranteed new money. Build the new money in with incentives. Who knows he might try to come back and realize that he isn't the same player at his age with that injury. Maybe retire and join the coaching staff? All I know is that he isn't worth the cap hit for next season, but he needs to remain a Patriot for what he brings to the team and leadership wise.

 

[mgteich]

Re: Salary Cap upped to 130M..per ESPN

I don't understand this at all.

The amount of savings in this cap year is exactly equal to the future cap increases.

So, are you saying that you would like us to be able to put lots more into future caps, since the Mankins amount is not significant enough? There are other players to restructure or extend if that is the goal.
==

In the end, in every contract (including restructures), there is a decision made with regard to how much to defer.

I would not mess with Mankins contract, the gain is not significant enough to justify the future cap implications in my opinion.

 

[supafly]

Re: Salary Cap upped to 130M..per ESPN

Good call. I say extend his contract two years with very little guaranteed new money. Build the new money in with incentives. Who knows he might try to come back and realize that he isn't the same player at his age with that injury. Maybe retire and join the coaching staff? All I know is that he isn't worth the cap hit for next season, but he needs to remain a Patriot for what he brings to the team and leadership wise.

Even if Wilfork comes back at 75-80% of his past self, an argument could be made that he'd still be worth it.

Of course the cost will be the deciding factor, but much like you, I'm hoping that he ends up staying on.

 

[SB39]

Re: Salary Cap upped to 130M..per ESPN

This will make it less likely that we retain Edelman and Talib.

I think it makes the possibility of franchising Talib increase slightly.

 

[patsfan-1982]

Re: Salary Cap upped to 130M..per ESPN

I don't think this has any effect on Wilfork, Edelman or Aqib Talib it just makes it easy for the pats to sign the draft picks and bring in a few vets and jags for camp,


Wilfork is a Family man and will not want to move his Family all around. so he will let the pats bring his cap hit down to around 4 million and to tell you the truth he really does not have a choice because if he does not redo his contract he will be cut and IMO the pats will offer him more then he will get from any other team, no one will hand big money to a 32 years old two down NT coming off a major injury,

Talib will get a offer of 6 to 7 million from the pats and I say he signs the contract and stays with the pats, Edelman will get a offer of 4 maybe 5 million and may end up re-signing for that

 

[supafly]

Re: Salary Cap upped to 130M..per ESPN

I think it makes the possibility of franchising Talib increase slightly.

You really think that Bill Belichick is going to be okay with paying Aqib Talib almost 12 million dollars in a guaranteed cap hit this season? I think that's practically crazy talk, especially when we're already a bit cap strapped as it is. That's terrible, terrible value, and a guy like Belichick typically doesn't care to pay poor value like that.

I would imagine that he'll want to see Talib's 2014 cap hit at about 1/3 of that amount, with an AAV that is about 1/2 of that amount.

I don't really see ANY cornerbacks being hit with the franchise tag in this current CB market, aside from maybe Miami and Brent Grimes. The Titans have already stated that they won't pay Verner that amount.

 

[SB39]

Re: Salary Cap upped to 130M..per ESPN

You really think that Bill Belichick is going to be okay with paying Aqib Talib almost 12 million dollars in a guaranteed cap hit this season? I think that's practically crazy talk, especially when we're already a bit cap strapped as it is. That's terrible, terrible value, and a guy like Belichick typically doesn't care to pay poor value like that.

I don't think they will franchise Talib, but I think it is in the realm of possibility. He has franchised CB's in the past.

I would imagine that he'll want to see Talib's 2014 cap hit at about 1/3 of that amount, with an AAV that is about 1/2 of that amount.

He's got a better chance of trading Ryan Mallett for the #4 pick in the draft.