This presumes two things
1.) The Patriots have already set their 2026 cash budget without knowing the exact 2026 League Cap number. There is a $4.5M range($301.2M to $305.7M). 90% of $4.5M is $450,000.
2.) Once the 2026 cash budget has been set it is set in place so if in January the budget was fixed to be $300,000,000 it now can't be increased to $300,400,000. I, for one, believe $400,000 is such a incredibly small percentage of $300 million.
If the Patriots gave Mack Hollins someone else's $400K, who is the player? In other words, who should Mack Hollins thank? We can eliminate members of the 2023/2024/2025/2026 draft classes as their 2026 cap numbers are set by the CBA. We can also eliminate all those whose deals are one-year minimum salaries contracts. I, for one, have a hard time believing the Patriots are going to offer in March a free agent $400K less in 2026 compensation just because in February they paid Mack Hollins a $400K signing bonus. Nor do I believe the Patriots are going to cut/trade/ask for another player to take a paycut because of the $400,000. If you do, we will have to agree to disagree.