The Patriots were toast before the season began- a casualty of the salary cap.

[JayNM]

First of all this is a great thread. Where the **** would this be if not the main forum? Anyway, to add my thoughts

I think people overreact a bit to this "pushed money comes to haunt eventually". It can be avoided, if managed well. Heck, most companies do this on a daily basis. And because the cap is not revenue or profit, it's a ever-increasing pool of money, you really just need to not condense TOO much of money in a short span. (and, again, OVERreact, as in there is undeniably some truth behind it)

Obviously Im not putting any calculation in this, but if you can mantain your dead cost below the % of increased cap, you are in fact gaining more cap space now, without necessarily taking a chunk of future years, by symply rolling some of the future dead cost to a even more distance future cap space. It really, really can be done.

And people REALLY undersestimate the power of restructures. Converting "one year cost" into 5 max, no interest, no nothing - AND being beneficial for the player? That's »chef's kiss?» ridiculously powerful. And now we have this void years structures... There is so much space for "creative" financial management

Also, I am pretty confident that all the teams that have "mortgage the future" didnt JUST do creative cap management. They traded a lot of Draft Capital (Rams) or they did this in a extreme way (Saints - I do not remember clearly why the Saints got so ****ed, but hey, I think it's 2 years in a row now they have been well over the cap and they just do some badabing, badabong and get in black again. so it's not like they are dealing with a unexpected event)

 

[h0c2000]

So you're saying it's not the same thing as using credit cards as bank loans? That'll cause you some trouble here with the "real" fans.

 

[TheRainMaker]

This is a prime example of how poor drafting ruins a roster. Bill the GM is arguably worse than Bobby Grier from 1997-1999.

What Bill is spending his money on for 2023:

10th on DB's.
15th on WR's.
1st for TE's.
17th on DL.
17th on OL.

 

[BTTA]

Good post. Terminology suggestion: they weren't "a casualty" because it was all of there own doing.

 

[Sciz]

Also, I am pretty confident that all the teams that have "mortgage the future" didnt JUST do creative cap management. They traded a lot of Draft Capital (Rams) or they did this in a extreme way (Saints - I do not remember clearly why the Saints got so ****ed, but hey, I think it's 2 years in a row now they have been well over the cap and they just do some badabing, badabong and get in black again. so it's not like they are dealing with a unexpected event)

The Saints’ problem is that they’ve gotten into a situation where they can’t afford to cut underperforming veterans because the accelerated dead money gives them a higher cap hit off the roster than on it. They need the immediate savings from restructuring those contracts instead, which means continuing to overpay guys for the sake of delaying dead money. This has especially hurt them on the OL.

 

[FCB02062]

Great post and absolutely the best evidence based data as why Bill the GM must be let go on black Monday.

black Monday? How bout this coming Monday

 

[upstater1]

Patriots are set up well for the future salary-cap wise. So they could've easily moved money out into the future.

The reason the Patriots have so much money to play with in the future is because they are one of the youngest teams in the NFL. Since Mac Jones joined the team, we've added 54 players to the current roster. This is why we're set up well.

In other words, I don't think the salary cap had any impact whatsoever on the team's ability to do anything this year.

 

[Grogan14]

Patriots are set up well for the future salary-cap wise. So they could've easily moved money out into the future.

The reason the Patriots have so much money to play with in the future is because they are one of the youngest teams in the NFL. Since Mac Jones joined the team, we've added 54 players to the current roster. This is why we're set up well.

In other words, I don't think the salary cap had any impact whatsoever on the team's ability to do anything this year.

Ranking NFL teams by age after 53-man cutdowns: 2023 edition

Where do the Eagles rank in age among the 32 NFL teams?

www.phillyvoice.com

At start of year pats were 26th youngest team. So not young relative to other teams

 

[TheRainMaker]

Ranking NFL teams by age after 53-man cutdowns: 2023 edition

Where do the Eagles rank in age among the 32 NFL teams?

www.phillyvoice.com

At start of year pats were 26th youngest team. So not young relative to other teams

That is really bad.

 

[50-yard-line]

Interesting and helpful breakdown... Should void years be limited to 1 season or eliminated completely?

I wish they weren't allowed.

The Patriots way of doing things great when the cap remained fairly stable. But as we keep seeing now, these HUGE contracts aren't so huge a couple of years later.

Wouldn't we love to have kept Thuney in hindsight?

I hope they've learned their lesson, because the league is different now. The money is rolling in.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Patriots are set up well for the future salary-cap wise. So they could've easily moved money out into the future.

The reason the Patriots have so much money to play with in the future is because they are one of the youngest teams in the NFL. Since Mac Jones joined the team, we've added 54 players to the current roster. This is why we're set up well.

In other words, I don't think the salary cap had any impact whatsoever on the team's ability to do anything this year.

Lolololol

This is why this site has gone downhill. You’ll just post outright lies and pretzel twisting takes and we know you’re aware of facts that disprove them. I think you’re the new Team Bill leader after years and years of posting pro-Bill propaganda like this, congrats. Everyone else has spared their dignity.

 

[ralmat55]

A couple more points to add to the discussion:

The Patriots are 4th amongst NFL teams in annual revenue- $684 million estimated for 2023 only behind the Cowboys, Raiders and Rams. They are second in operating income only behind the Cowboys at $206 million a year or 30% of their revenue.

How Rich Is Your NFL Team?

See how revenues and profits compare for all 32 teams.

www.gobankingrates.com

2025 NFL Team Salary Cash Tracker

A real-time look at the 2025 salary cash totals for each NFL team.

www.spotrac.com

But, they’re only 30th in cash spending for 2023 at $194.8 million or 28.5% of team revenue. Yes, their percentage of player payout is less than their percentage of operating income. In a league where the players revenue split is 48%, the Patriots are spending only 28.5% of their revenue on players in 2023.

This has been going on in some measure for 20 years. It didn’t hurt them competitively for most of it because they had superior coaching and Quarterbacking which are the two most important elements in pro football. They also had a steady stream of veteran free agents willing to play for them on the cheap in hopes of rebuilding their careers and future earnings.

Now, the QB is gone. The HC is 71 and giving off a “you kids get off my lawn” vibe when yelling at officials on the sidelines. And, no one wants to play for them on the cheap any longer.

No wonder Bob Kraft gave Bill Belichick a “lucrative “, “long term contract last off season coming off a 8-9 season and Bill’s disastrous decision to allow his cronies to coach his offense and destroy his promising young QB it seems in the process. “ Follow the money”.

 

[Toofy]

With inflation kicking in makes no sense to preserve dollars . 100$ today is worth 80$ 5 years down the line . That's 20 million savings for the overextended ones.

And we just try to time it and are stuck with albatross contracts like Jonnu, agholor, juju .

Bourne and Judon we're home runs.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Lolololol

This is why this site has gone downhill. You’ll just post outright lies and pretzel twisting takes and we know you’re aware of facts that disprove them. I think you’re the new Team Bill leader after years and years of posting pro-Bill propaganda like this, congrats. Everyone else has spared their dignity.

The board is going in this direction. The complainers of "complainers" will get what they wished for in time. Conversations will be like this:

Poster A: "The Pats aren't good right now".
Poster B: "Don't worry, they have a lot of talent and will turn things around".
Poster A: "Thank you, I feel much better now".

 

[upstater1]

Lolololol

This is why this site has gone downhill. You’ll just post outright lies and pretzel twisting takes and we know you’re aware of facts that disprove them. I think you’re the new Team Bill leader after years and years of posting pro-Bill propaganda like this, congrats. Everyone else has spared their dignity.

When you mature a little, you'll understand better how football is run.

Everyone acknowledges we have a ton of cap space in the future. That's a fact. A fact which would've given us the ability to extend anyone into the future.

If we wanted to, we could've signed Lamar Jackson. The cap woudln't have stopped us from signing him.

It sounds like you don't understand how the cap works, which is no surprise given our prior conversations.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

When you mature a little, you'll understand better how football is run.

Everyone acknowledges we have a ton of cap space in the future. That's a fact. A fact which would've given us the ability to extend anyone into the future.

If we wanted to, we could've signed Lamar Jackson. The cap woudln't have stopped us from signing him.

It sounds like you don't understand how the cap works, which is no surprise given our prior conversations.

Derp okay

 

[50-yard-line]

Lolololol

This is why this site has gone downhill. You’ll just post outright lies and pretzel twisting takes and we know you’re aware of facts that disprove them. I think you’re the new Team Bill leader after years and years of posting pro-Bill propaganda like this, congrats. Everyone else has spared their dignity.

Their OL is very young, with four of the five starters, and their sixth man all on rookie deals.

Their DL has five regulars on rookie deals (White, Barmore, Uche, Jennings, Roberts).


Their DBs are VERY young with Gonzo, Jones, Jones, and Wade.


They've got a decent young core. They need to keep it and build from it (and see if their young WRs are worth a damn instead of sitting them for guys who are on the downside of their careers!

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Their OL is very young, with four of the five starters, and their sixth man all on rookie deals.

Their DL has five regulars on rookie deals (White, Barmore, Uche, Jennings, Roberts).


Their DBs are VERY young with Gonzo, Jones, Jones, and Wade.


They've got a decent young core. They need to keep it and build from it (and see if their young WRs are worth a damn instead of sitting them for guys who are on the downside of their careers!

Agreed, they do have some decent talent to re-sign and start over with, though not much.

 

[DaBruinz]

A couple more points to add to the discussion:

The Patriots are 4th amongst NFL teams in annual revenue- $684 million estimated for 2023 only behind the Cowboys, Raiders and Rams. They are second in operating income only behind the Cowboys at $206 million a year or 30% of their revenue.

How Rich Is Your NFL Team?

See how revenues and profits compare for all 32 teams.

www.gobankingrates.com

2025 NFL Team Salary Cash Tracker

A real-time look at the 2025 salary cash totals for each NFL team.

www.spotrac.com

But, they’re only 30th in cash spending for 2023 at $194.8 million or 28.5% of team revenue. Yes, their percentage of player payout is less than their percentage of operating income. In a league where the players revenue split is 48%, the Patriots are spending only 28.5% of their revenue on players in 2023.

This has been going on in some measure for 20 years. It didn’t hurt them competitively for most of it because they had superior coaching and Quarterbacking which are the two most important elements in pro football. They also had a steady stream of veteran free agents willing to play for them on the cheap in hopes of rebuilding their careers and future earnings.

Now, the QB is gone. The HC is 71 and giving off a “you kids get off my lawn” vibe when yelling at officials on the sidelines. And, no one wants to play for them on the cheap any longer.

No wonder Bob Kraft gave Bill Belichick a “lucrative “, “long term contract last off season coming off a 8-9 season and Bill’s disastrous decision to allow his cronies to coach his offense and destroy his promising young QB it seems in the process. “ Follow the money”.

There are specific monies set aside for the Salary cap. Trying to say that the Patriots are skimping because of the cash there spending is BS when you use the REAL numbers as set in the CBA. Ignoring this makes your entire % spiel null and void.

 

[Schmo]

I try to hang in with the intricacies of the cap (and this thread in general), but admittedly I'm lacking in understanding.

What I'm wondering, big picture, is if draft picks and cap money have higher perceived value than reality. I know the rosters are much smaller, but we've seen NBA 1st rounders swapped like they're nothing in order to acquire top talent, which teams end up paying huge contracts to. Since it's a rare occurrence for top talent to reach free agency, does it make more sense to ditch draft picks for the top players at positions like QB, WR, LT, CB and give them big money?

I'm just wondering if the roster should optimally be more top heavy.