Stefon Diggs: Contract

[mgteich]

If they cut Diggs like you suggest they'll be over $60M in cap space. If that ends up with Mack Hollins coming to camp as the #2 WR that's just malpractice. Absolutely zero reason why Maye should be given this WR group when resources are so plentiful.

if Diggs is gone then he needs to be adequately replaced. Boutte as a #1 WR Hollins/Williams/Pop/Chism competing for the rest when none of them really should be more than #4 WRs at this stage is just not aceptable.

If they cut Diggs, they would gain $17M of cap money, PERHAPS enough to sign an equivalent to Diggs. I prefer to keep Diggs.

Diggs is a $20M receiver.

 

[Hugepatsfan]

If they cut Diggs, they would gain $17M of cap money, PERHAPS enough to sign an equivalent to Diggs. I prefer to keep Diggs.

Diggs is a $20M receiver.

I'm assuming they'd use the June 1st designation on Diggs which means it would be $20.8M of cap space if they cut him ($16.8 immediately and then they get the rest of the saving applied on June 1st).

With how contracts are structured for that cap space you could probably sign, just for example, Alec Pierce and Kyle Pitts, who would probably be the top WR and TE contracts given out this offseason and have some leftover.

 

[Real fan 02]

If they cut Diggs, they would gain $17M of cap money, PERHAPS enough to sign an equivalent to Diggs. I prefer to keep Diggs.

Diggs is a $20M receiver.

Agreed.. think it's pretty safe to say unless something off field arises again he will be here.. the chemistry with he and Drake this season was great.. keep Diggs and add at wr & TE..

 

[Patjew]

I feel like this thread is a year early.
They can easily afford his salary next year, without hampering any free agency.
And there's as good a chance he has a better year, a year removed from the ACL, than he had this year, when he played half the snaps. And he still put up 80/1000.

What the **** do you people want? (Also, he's not making #1 WR money, he's making #2 WR money)

I want him to be a # 2 (because we have a true # 1) and be happy with that; I do not want him to be a fake # 1 like he was this past year.

 

[mgteich]

I want him to be a # 2 (because we have a true # 1) and be happy with that; I do not want him to be a fake # 1 like he was this past year.

So, you are willing to spend $25M or more to replace Douglas?

 

[festy1986]

Why not?

Have you seen them? There's just no chance.

 

[dliverey44]

Just throwing this out as a thought experiment and not advocating for it. If the team and Diggs do not come to an agreement. What are the thoughts on Romeo Doubs as a potential Diggs replacement? He will be significantly cheaper and is a good WR that can play further down the field than current Diggs.

I see some remark that Diggs does not command coverages, but I am pretty sure that he faced the highest number of double teams on the team. I think that Diggs will have a big impact on this team if he comes back. 2nd year off the ACL, 2nd season with Maye and McD and he still runs good routes and has really good hands.

 

[DaBruinz]

Diggs is not worth 26 million. Sorry he gave us a great season, but that's absurd.

Hopefully they can work something out because he deserves it, but ridiculous to tie up that money on a player the defense does not have to plan around.

Diggs is, most certainly, worth his 20.6M salary. What's absurd is ignoring what he brought to the team in terms of intangibles and helping the WR Corps to gel. And yes, he's worth the 26M cap hit because of that. But, hey, go ahead and ignore how good he played coming back in less than 9 months to play on that repaired ACL. An ACL that though allow him to be better in 2026.

As stated, the Pats could convert Salary to SB to reduce the $26M cap hit. They could free up as much as 9M this year if they wanted to.. I'm not sure they even need to ask Diggs to do it. Most teams stopped putting the clause in that the player had to be asked some 15 years ago. The Patriots were one o the last teams that hadn't switched and I don't know if they did under Mayo or not.

 

[DaBruinz]

Just throwing this out as a thought experiment and not advocating for it. If the team and Diggs do not come to an agreement. What are the thoughts on Romeo Doubs as a potential Diggs replacement? He will be significantly cheaper and is a good WR that can play further down the field than current Diggs.

I see some remark that Diggs does not command coverages, but I am pretty sure that he faced the highest number of double teams on the team. I think that Diggs will have a big impact on this team if he comes back. 2nd year off the ACL, 2nd season with Maye and McD and he still runs good routes and has really good hands.

Sorry, DLiverey, but I don't consider a guy who catches only 54% of his targets to "be a good player". He's also averaging 6 drops a season while putting up an average of just over 600 yrds and 5 TDs a season. Maybe he'd experience a renaissance ala Mack Hollins and magically top 65% for the 1st time in his career.. But I just don't see the need to add a FA WR when they have the 6 guys they do and can add UDFA/late rounders. WR is a luxury addition right now.

 

[DaBruinz]

I'm assuming they'd use the June 1st designation on Diggs which means it would be $20.8M of cap space if they cut him ($16.8 immediately and then they get the rest of the saving applied on June 1st).

With how contracts are structured for that cap space you could probably sign, just for example, Alec Pierce and Kyle Pitts, who would probably be the top WR and TE contracts given out this offseason and have some leftover.

It was pointed out to me when I mentioned Chubb possible getting a June 1st designation, that if that happens, the team doesn't get the cap savings until June 2nd. If that is the case, then who are you suggesting will still be available?

 

[dliverey44]

Diggs is, most certainly, worth his 20.6M salary. What's absurd is ignoring what he brought to the team in terms of intangibles and helping the WR Corps to gel. And yes, he's worth the 26M cap hit because of that. But, hey, go ahead and ignore how good he played coming back in less than 9 months to play on that repaired ACL. An ACL that though allow him to be better in 2026.

As stated, the Pats could convert Salary to SB to reduce the $26M cap hit. They could free up as much as 9M this year if they wanted to.. I'm not sure they even need to ask Diggs to do it. Most teams stopped putting the clause in that the player had to be asked some 15 years ago. The Patriots were one o the last teams that hadn't switched and I don't know if they did under Mayo or not.

Over the Cap had an article or they were referenced in an article that states that the Pats could free up an additional 58M or so through simple restructures and could free up 120M through Max restructures. I would not recommend Pursuing the Max restructures to the extent that the article suggested but if they used all of the simple restructures they could end up with 94M in cap space. Almost every team can open a **** ton of space, so then it comes down to bidding wars and how far a team is willing to go to get a player.

• A simple restructure converts payments into prorated signing bonuses within the confines of the remainder of the contract. Teams typically have the ability to unilaterally execute simple restructures without any action necessary from the player.
• A maximum restructure increases the amount of cap space via conversion into prorated signing bonuses by either extending the contract or by adding void years to a contract, years that do not extend the contract but are only used as placeholders for the proration. Maximum restructures are typically considered a renegotiation of the contract that requires the player's consent to execute.

Restructure Potential | Over the Cap

Restructure Potential | Over the Cap

overthecap.com

 

[dliverey44]

Sorry, DLiverey, but I don't consider a guy who catches only 54% of his targets to "be a good player". He's also averaging 6 drops a season while putting up an average of just over 600 yrds and 5 TDs a season. Maybe he'd experience a renaissance ala Mack Hollins and magically top 65% for the 1st time in his career.. But I just don't see the need to add a FA WR when they have the 6 guys they do and can add UDFA/late rounders. WR is a luxury addition right now.

Fair point, Possibly my draft binky bias is kicking in.

 

[Patjew]

So, you are willing to spend $25M or more to replace Douglas?

Yeah, that is exactly what I wrote, right

 

[Hugepatsfan]

It was pointed out to me when I mentioned Chubb possible getting a June 1st designation, that if that happens, the team doesn't get the cap savings until June 2nd. If that is the case, then who are you suggesting will still be available?

My understanding is that you still get the immediate cap savings, but the portion of dead money that gets deferred to next year after June 1st doesn’t happen until that actual date.

If Pats cut Diggs today, they save $16.8M. But on June 1st, $4M of dead money gets pushed to next year so it’d be $20.8M. You get to cut one player before June 1st but designate it post-June 1st so that deferral kicks in later.

They’d get access to the $16.8M of cap space immediately. They’d have to operate from now until June 1st without using that extra $4M but that’s fine. It’s a relatively insignificant amount. Like always I assume they’ll go into camp with a budget of some money for in season moves. So if they want to start camp with $12M of cap, they can just spend up to $8M under the cap a let it go up on June 1st. I doubt they’re ever going to be RIGHT up against the cap where this is a practical issue for them.

For some players, that June 1st deferral is more significant. $4M is an easy enough amount to still do all your signings but if you’re waiting around for another $20M of cap to clean then you run into the issues of the cap not being available until after FA is done. I don’t think that’s a practical factor with Diggs though.

 

[DarrylS]

Is this conversation premature as we need to know the outcome of his legal issues???
Courts may make this decision without the input the Patriots...
We are not aware of the evidence that is against him, pretty confident that the Patriots security staff are aware of the veracity of the accusers allegations...

 

[dliverey44]

My understanding is that you still get the immediate cap savings, but the portion of dead money that gets deferred to next year after June 1st doesn’t happen until that actual date.

If Pats cut Diggs today, they save $16.8M. But on June 1st, $4M of dead money gets pushed to next year so it’d be $20.8M. You get to cut one player before June 1st but designate it post-June 1st so that deferral kicks in later.

They’d get access to the $16.8M of cap space immediately. They’d have to operate from now until June 1st without using that extra $4M but that’s fine. It’s a relatively insignificant amount. Like always I assume they’ll go into camp with a budget of some money for in season moves. So if they want to start camp with $12M of cap, they can just spend up to $8M under the cap a let it go up on June 1st. I doubt they’re ever going to be RIGHT up against the cap where this is a practical issue for them.

For some players, that June 1st deferral is more significant. $4M is an easy enough amount to still do all your signings but if you’re waiting around for another $20M of cap to clean then you run into the issues of the cap not being available until after FA is done. I don’t think that’s a practical factor with Diggs though.

If they decide to move from Diggs it would be wise to put him as a june 1st designation, especially if they want to avoid the march 13 bonus of 6M.

 

[Toofy]

I think diggs is a tale of two halves just like the entire offense

- 1000 yards in regular season

- 110 yards total in 4 post season games.

Did the line completely make diggs ineffective or was diggs ineffective in double coverage .

Tough call to hand 26 million contract to wide receiver with such disparity. I hope we can have performance escalators for diggs to meet 26 million this year.

I doubt anyone will pay him more than 8 million gtd with performance and game time bonus linked to remaining 8-10 million.

His outside market would be closer to 18-20 at tops including all bonus and performance escalators.

 

[DaBruinz]

My understanding is that you still get the immediate cap savings, but the portion of dead money that gets deferred to next year after June 1st doesn’t happen until that actual date.

If Pats cut Diggs today, they save $16.8M. But on June 1st, $4M of dead money gets pushed to next year so it’d be $20.8M. You get to cut one player before June 1st but designate it post-June 1st so that deferral kicks in later.

They’d get access to the $16.8M of cap space immediately. They’d have to operate from now until June 1st without using that extra $4M but that’s fine. It’s a relatively insignificant amount. Like always I assume they’ll go into camp with a budget of some money for in season moves. So if they want to start camp with $12M of cap, they can just spend up to $8M under the cap a let it go up on June 1st. I doubt they’re ever going to be RIGHT up against the cap where this is a practical issue for them.

For some players, that June 1st deferral is more significant. $4M is an easy enough amount to still do all your signings but if you’re waiting around for another $20M of cap to clean then you run into the issues of the cap not being available until after FA is done. I don’t think that’s a practical factor with Diggs though.

According to Jason at Over the Cap, you do not get any of the Cap savings until June 2nd. I went and emailed him to confirm.

 

[Toofy]

According to Jason at Over the Cap, you do not get any of the Cap savings until June 2nd. I went and emailed him to confirm.

Does this really matter .

Can't we restructure say Milton williams and landry contract and restructure it back on June 2nd when the cap gets added back.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Does this really matter .

Can't we restructure say Milton williams and landry contract and restructure it back on June 2nd when the cap gets added back.

Yes but it'll be after the 2026 season. He'll be motivated to do it then as his guaranteed money will be gone.