So now its $3.5million in remaining cap space?

[DaBruinz]

For me the issue has never been whether Kraft spent the cap. The question was how much of the 2006 cap money would be used in 2006 and how much would be rolled over into 2007 when we don't need it (we are already $30M over) and then to 2008 and to 2009.

MG -
One of the things the Pats rely heavily upoin with their cap manipulations is the NLTBE bonuses. Many relate to the Play-offs and the SB. When the pats make the play-offs like they do, those NLTBE bonuses kick in the following year.

What they could have done is gone through and changed some of those NLTBE bonuses into LTBE bonuses so they could be counted towards this year's cap. They could have also added LTBE bonuses theat they knew wouldn't be earned to artificially inflate a person's cap figure so as to off-set NLTBE bonuses that are going to be earned and will count against next year's cap.

 

[DaBruinz]

It will be interesting to see what they do. According to Miguel's site, we don't have a single "must sign" UFA after 2007 :

"Rashad Baker, S
Ted Bruschi, LB
Reche Caldwell, WR
Jabar Gaffney, WR
Randall Gay, CB
Atrell Hawkins, S
Tebucky Jones, S
Mel Mitchell, S
Lonie Paxton, LS
Chad Scott, CB
Eugene Wilson, S
Mike Wright, DT"

Apologies to Bruschi but he'll be a year older by this time next year. I'd also re-sign Hawkins, Caldwell, maybe Wilson. But that's not a scary list at all.

Maybe we can add a little extra to the offers this year and get a Fletcher or Nate Clements or the like.

Sorry, but Lonie Paxton is a must re-sign. So is Mike Wright. Those two guys are tremendous special teams players. Paxton is one of the best long-snappers in the game. Has he had a bad snap? And Mike Wright is a tremendous athelete who just gets the job done.

 

[VrabelMayeWin]

Sorry, but Lonie Paxton is a must re-sign. So is Mike Wright. Those two guys are tremendous special teams players. Paxton is one of the best long-snappers in the game. Has he had a bad snap? And Mike Wright is a tremendous athelete who just gets the job done.

I would definitely like them back. But they aren't "must re-signs" like the Wilforks, Warrens and the like.

 

[Brarrell]

So what happens to the 3.5 million where does this money go?

 

[pats1]

So what happens to the 3.5 million where does this money go?

Thin air, but NLTBE's will eat away at most of it after the season ends and they're all calculated.

 

[Miguel]

Mike had an interesting comment that caught my eye in his Friday chat.

"I don't think anything will happen with the cap space, barring an unpexpected late change. The team tried with Samuel earlier in the year and couldn't get to a compromise position. Ditto for Daniel Graham. Not sure if any talks were started with Tully Banta-Cain. The salary cap is confusing and there are some intricacies that I think handcuffed the Patriots in trying to consummate these extensions. Not to get too technical, but the intricacies are tied to the high payouts the team had in the two prior years with the Tom Brady and Richard Seymour contracts."

If Miguel is about I wonder if he has any idea what it might be Mike is alluding to. Only thing I can think of is a limit on cash over cap bonus expenditures, but that would not be a league mandated situation to my knowledge, but perhaps an internal one. Still wouldn't make much sense though because they were prepared to give Deion an $8M signing bonus and I can't imagine either of the remaining three players in question (Samuel, Graham, TBC) would be warranting much more than that (if that).

I have no idea what Mike Reiss is referring to.

 

[cstjohn17]

I agree when I read this I thought it sounded lame, almost like the Pats tapped Reiss on the head and said "it is very complex, nothing for you to worry about". The payouts from previous years are virtually irrelevant for extensions for other players except for any self imposed management process the Patriots apply to their cap management.

In the end I am glad they used some of the money. It shouldn't be construed that because they didn't sign Branch they are in great shape. The payout ot Branch in year 1 would have been quite low and would not have handcuffed them. Looking at the free agents WRs for next year I would rather have Branch in tow but we have been over that already.

I have no idea what Mike Reiss is referring to.

"The salary cap is confusing and there are some intricacies that I think handcuffed the Patriots in trying to consummate these extensions. Not to get too technical, but the intricacies are tied to the high payouts the team had in the two prior years with the Tom Brady and Richard Seymour contracts."

 

[pats1]

"The salary cap is confusing and there are some intricacies that I think handcuffed the Patriots in trying to consummate these extensions. Not to get too technical, but the intricacies are tied to the high payouts the team had in the two prior years with the Tom Brady and Richard Seymour contracts."

Right. Miguel read that.

Miguel just doesn't know what Reiss means by that.

 

[mgteich]

We might find out that Brady has a $3.5M bonus for having 5 special team tackles. I believe that this is a LTBE bonus, counts against the 2006 cap, but when it is not meant, there is a $3.5M adjustment to the 2007 cap. This just an example. The patriots and others have done this regularly in the past. That the number is down to $3.5M means that at least one contract has been adjusted without us knowing. There will be one more. I believe that the deadline for such contract changes passed yesterday.

Or $3.5M of Seymour's 2007 signing bonus could get moved to a 2006 roster bonus or some other kind of bonus.

There are many ways to use the cap. Please understand that the patriots have the best cap people in the league.

So what happens to the 3.5 million where does this money go?

 

[DaBruinz]

I have no idea what Mike Reiss is referring to.

Miguel -
Could Reiss be referring to Cash over Cap? They did just have a 6.66 Million pay out to Seymour and didn't they have a payout to Brady as well?

 

[Miguel]

Miguel -
Could Reiss be referring to Cash over Cap? They did just have a 6.66 Million pay out to Seymour and didn't they have a payout to Brady as well?

I doubt it. According to my calculations the Pats spent about $91.5 million in cash on the players' payroll. Their adjusted cap is around $100 million.

 

[Urgent]

On Cash over Cap:

Felger was on a PFW broadcast the Friday before Christmas, and pointed out that the Patriots were in the bottom third of the league in cash payroll this year.

So, it could not have been a total cash over cap thing.

The comments on UTBE in-season bonuses make sense. Apparently the Patriots adjusted a couple bonuses to consume about $3mm in cap space for this season -- cap space that should re-appear next year.

I have no idea why they wouldn't consume more than just $3mm with $6.5mm available.

Regardless, they should have plenty of cap space for the offseason. It will be interesting to see how they approach it, given the anticipated frenzy with all the new salary cap space available.