2014 Pats Salary Cap Breakdown - DTs

[mgteich]

There was never a guarantee that Wilfork would be back. In any case, we has been injured twice since the beginning of the last preseason.

NEW MONEY TO KEEP, AS OF NOW
Wilfork $8M
Kelly $2M
Sopoaga $2M

The question is how much new money each is worth to the patriots. If the answer is less than they will accept, then they will be cut. The only "hard" question is how long we wait to see if each player is healthy and how ready they are.

I expect Sopoaga to be gone early.

Kelly can be kept around through camp to see if he is worth $2M. He certainly should be if he is can recover.

I expect that Wilfork might be offered an $7M bonus plus a $1M 2014 salary (the same money as in the current contract). The question is the total compensation and whether Wilfork will take the deal.

Assuming that Wilfork is back (which is no guarantee, IMO), I think a rotation of Wilfork, Jones, Siliga, Kelly, and Armstead/Vellano is pretty good. I can also understand keeping a sixth, although between Chandler Jones' ability to move inside on third down and the possibility of running more 3-4 next year, my guess would be that the extra roster spot is used elsewhere.

I understand the appeal of cutting Kelly for a quick $2M in cash, but he was really good when he was healthy, and the cost of getting anything close to his healthy production would presumably be more than $2M. If they're serious about going that route, I'd think the team would be better off cutting Wilfork to save $8M than cutting Kelly to save a quarter as much. Wilfork's production is worth that $8M when healthy, but he wasn't healthy this year even before the achilles went out.

It's a bummer that Sopoaga is going to cost $1M against the cap after contributing nothing, especially if Kelly or Wilfork ends up being cut as a cap move.

 

[Urgent]

I also thought the hit would stay with Philly, but Miguel forgot more yesterday than I ever knew about these rules, so it must have something to do with guaranteed salary vs bonus.

Exactly right.
Guaranteed money, when announced in these deals, is a combination of up-front signing bonus and down-the-road guaranteed payments.
Signing bonus is eaten by the team trading the player.
The team receiving the player accepts the future guaranteed payments.

So any signing bonus sits on the Philly cap as dead money.
The $1mm guaranteed future salary will hit the Patriots whether he plays or not.

Of course, if they could trade him for a draft pick...

 

[Miguel]

Awesome breakdown, just curious on how you see this allocation fro a historical perspective?

If Sopoaga is cut they have about $18~M towards DT out of about $125~M for the cap (roughly 14%). Wilfork accounts for the majority of this, a lot depends on his health, otherwise it looks fairly reasonable. Although the allocation is a little high based on the performance.

I have never did a positional allocation before. My guess is that this is the highest ever percentage allocated to the DT position.

 

[Miguel]

Exactly right.
Guaranteed money, when announced in these deals, is a combination of up-front signing bonus and down-the-road guaranteed payments.
Signing bonus is eaten by the team trading the player.
The team receiving the player accepts the future guaranteed payments.

So any signing bonus sits on the Philly cap as dead money.
The $1mm guaranteed future salary will hit the Patriots whether he plays or not.

What Urgent said

 

[mgteich]

It would be if the team had any intention of allocating this much cap room come March 11th.
Even before the injuries, I don't think anyone expected Wilfork to use over $11M of cap room.

I would expect that next year's DT cap allocation won't be much different from this year's (even with both Wilfork and Kelly staying).

I have never did a positional allocation before. My guess is that this is the highest ever percentage allocated to the DT position.

 

[Mark12]

Patriots' Vince Wilfork: 'I cant leave the game like this' - ESPN Boston

Such a class act. I love Vince.

 

[mgteich]

We all love Vince. The team loves Vince.

The question is whether he can be in shape for the season. He wasn't for 2013. He was injured from the go.

Patriots' Vince Wilfork: 'I cant leave the game like this' - ESPN Boston

Such a class act. I love Vince.

 

[Miguel]

Reposting these posts as they may be of more interest now.