Teams have too much money left!

[mgteich]

I have read this post three times. If I understand this correctly, we will excercize a $6.66M option in August or pay Seymour $19M for playing 2007 and lose him for 2008.

It is very misleading not to include this amount on you cap page. You might as well not include all the salaries; they aren't guaranteed either. You know that the patriots will exercise this bonus, in the same way you presume that the ERFA's will be re-signed, because nothing else makes sense (other than converting the money to guaranteed salary, which is the same except for cash flow.

IIRC, Adamjt reported on this board:
"The "extension" is for only three more years past 2006. Seymour got a renegotiation bonus of $5.34 million, prorated at $1,335,000 per season. He also got a workout bonus of $100,000 in addition to his standard $6,160 workout bonus. His $585,000 base salary, plus his $1,335,000 prorated bonus and $100,000 additional workout bonus add up to $2.02 million -- exactly what his salary would have been, which is why his cap number is the same.Next year, Seymour is due an option bonus of $18.66 million. If the option is not exercised, Seymour will become a free agent in 2008, and his 2007 base salary becomes $19.26 million AND is guaranteed. He has workout bonuses of $106,720 each season from 2007 through 2009.His cap numbers each season will be $4,420,160 in 2006, $8,261,720 in 2007, $8,391,720 in 2008 and $11,346,720 in 2009."

From a very reliable resource - "fyi, the $18.66M option bonus is actually two option bonuses . . . the first, for $6.66M is due between aug. 4 of this year and march of next year . . . the second, for $12M is due by march 7 of next year"

While the Pats can pay Seymour his option bonus in August, as far as I can tell, they are not under any obligation to do so, which is why I do not have the option bonus hitting the 2006 cap yet.

Also, if it's time for the season to start and we still have significant cap space, wouldn't we reverse the usual trend and make somebody's bonus money into 2006 salary? Then we'd REALLY have spending room for 2007.

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[Miguel]

It is very misleading not to include this amount on you cap page.

My cap page is intended to show the Patriots' cap status at the time I publish the page.

What is currently RS's cap number?What I show on my cap page. I also provide documentation for Seymour's number. I will be adding a FAQ about this.

We can assume that the Pats will pick up the option in August but they may not. For all we know, the Pats may intend to give RS the $6.66 million in the form of a roster bonus.

Option bonuses are prorated. $6.66 million over $4 years is 1.665 million a year. A Roster bonus would have a $6.66 million cap hit. That's close to a $5 million difference.

 

[RayClay]

Yes, I'd be happy to accept some new Channel or jewelry...but how that relates to this thread, I'm unaware?! Go to General Talk if you want to jump off the football topic buddy.

I know salary cap talk is complicated, but you don't have to get all huffy.:cool3:

 

[mgteich]

So, currently Seymour is scheduled to get an option of $6.66M, presuming that we expect to keep Seymour on the team past 2007. Of course, we don't have to do that. But because the team might convert the option to a roster bonus, we assume that there is $0.00 of money due to Seymour this year for the option. Again, shouldn't we therefore not include any salary for anyone, because in the same way, the team can do this to any player with a multi-year contract, by converting non-minimum salary to roster bonus.

Your cap page is the best in the league, so criticizing is always just nitpicking, but now whenever we look at the total, we just have to remember that there is a $6.66M option due to Seymour. It is good that there are not other such options to consider.

And of course, whenever we see league totals, we need to remember that $6.66M is already spent, unless the team changes its mind and spreads the monies.

My cap page is intended to show the Patriots' cap status at the time I publish the page.

What is currently RS's cap number?What I show on my cap page. I also provide documentation for Seymour's number. I will be adding a FAQ about this.

We can assume that the Pats will pick up the option in August but they may not. For all we know, the Pats may intend to give RS the $6.66 million in the form of a roster bonus.

Option bonuses are prorated. $6.66 million over $4 years is 1.665 million a year. A Roster bonus would have a $6.66 million cap hit. That's close to a $5 million difference.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

"to be tight, or not to be tight, that is the question!

H'mm sounds like yet another bad case of THE HIVES!

 

[Miguel]

So, currently Seymour is scheduled to get an option of $6.66M, presuming that we expect to keep Seymour on the team past 2007.

Please note that "fyi, the $18.66M option bonus is actually two option bonuses . . . the first, for $6.66M is due between aug. 4 of this year and march of next year.

The Pats could pay Seymour the $6.66 million after the 2006 regular season is done and still keep Seymour past the 2007 season.

 

[Miguel]

Your cap page is the best in the league, so criticizing is always just nitpicking, but now whenever we look at the total, we just have to remember that there is a $6.66M option due to Seymour.

I have added such a notation to the cap page.

 

[Miguel]

And of course, whenever we see league totals, we need to remember that $6.66M is already spent, unless the team changes its mind and spreads the monies.

If the Patriots pick up the option bonus before the 2006 regular season ends, the $6.66 million will be prorated over 4 years, unless they change it to a roster bonus. Please note that I am presuming that Seymour's contract has that type of conversion clause in it.

 

[mgteich]

I apologize. I misread the following to mean that the option choice was in August. I didn't realize that the team can wait until after season and stioll keep Seymour long-term, with no effect on the 2006 cap.

I also expect that there is a conversion clause, although I HOPE that we will be looking to use up this year's cap.

From a very reliable resource - "fyi, the $18.66M option bonus is actually two option bonuses . . . the first, for $6.66M is due between aug. 4 of this year and march of next year . . . the second, for $12M is due by march 7 of next year"

If the Patriots pick up the option bonus before the 2006 regular season ends, the $6.66 million will be prorated over 4 years, unless they change it to a roster bonus. Please note that I am presuming that Seymour's contract has that type of conversion clause in it.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Seymour's deal was obviously written the way it is because his extension is for 3 years that don't begin until 2007. It would be assuming tremendous risk to pay him $18M a year in advance. $6.6 balances out his deal so he's really making around $8+M a year for 4 years beginning this year.

There is likely an understanding that he sees it one way or the other once the dust settles, and the way we treat it simply reflects the teams desire for flexibility to see what else we were able to do or found we needed to to in the interim. We had some tough FA losses this season in an odd period when the cap went up dramatically and the FA market, draft and performance of some of our own impending 2007 FA were not exactly prime from our perspective. And we still can't be sure of the status of a couple of key players who landed on IR last season.

They obviously needed some time to decide whether a good chunk of the excess cap should be saved, spent on extensions, spent on select FA or even trades now that the rules have changed, or just used to diminish some existing future cap hits including Richards. By the time camp gets up and running they should have a better idea of just where they stand on a lot of these issues.