2021 Cap Space

[WinstonSmith]

Saw that the old Cap Thread was closed.

Below is from Miguel's tweet today:

(1/3) These numbers are for 2021. Will change as we get closer to March 17

$175M League Cap
plus $20M Carry Over
plus $4M in LTBE/NLTBE adjustments
equals $199M Adjusted Cap number for the Patriots

subtract $143.1M in cap commitments
equals
$55.9M in cap space for the Pats.

This includes assumed tenders to Jackson and Ford.

He had the cap savings for a combined Hightower, Chung, and Cannon retirements at 13.6M, which assumes cap minimum replacements.

 

[UGAPatsfan]

Man...assuming a QB takes up 20 Million of that and I'm not sure 30M is enough to improve this team all that much TBH.

Dmac retiring would probably net another 10M though

 

[slam]

It's all relative. According to Spotrac we have the 4th most cap space in the league next season. If the cap goes down we may see a lot of cap casualties this year.

I don't know exactly how it works, of course. Going into the manage roster tool I tried to get the most over the cap team (Saints) under the cap in 2021 and had to release 17 players to do so. I'm sure it won't be THAT dire for them, but are we going to see a lot of good players looking on the market looking for a contract?

 

[borg]

Gilmore's Pats future is uncertain as well

 

[luuked]

Saw that the old Cap Thread was closed.

Below is from Miguel's tweet today:

(1/3) These numbers are for 2021. Will change as we get closer to March 17

$175M League Cap
plus $20M Carry Over
plus $4M in LTBE/NLTBE adjustments
equals $199M Adjusted Cap number for the Patriots

subtract $143.1M in cap commitments
equals
$55.9M in cap space for the Pats.

This includes assumed tenders to Jackson and Ford.

He had the cap savings for a combined Hightower, Chung, and Cannon retirements at 13.6M, which assumes cap minimum replacements.

Spotrac has it at 130M in active contracts and therefore about 70M in cap space. I wonder where the difference of 13M in active contracts between Miguel and them comes from.


Generally speaking the mistake people shouldn't make when it comes to cap space is to only look at one specific year. Contracts can be structured and designed very creatively. So not only is next year's cap important but also where we stand for 2021 (which would be at around 150M in cap space) and beyond.

To me it looks like we have one of the best situations in the league going forward in terms of cap space. The flipside of this usually is that there is less established talent on a roster. So it is not like everything is awesome.

 

[Mike the Brit]

Saw that the old Cap Thread was closed.

Below is from Miguel's tweet today:

(1/3) These numbers are for 2021. Will change as we get closer to March 17

$175M League Cap
plus $20M Carry Over
plus $4M in LTBE/NLTBE adjustments
equals $199M Adjusted Cap number for the Patriots

subtract $143.1M in cap commitments
equals
$55.9M in cap space for the Pats.

This includes assumed tenders to Jackson and Ford.

He had the cap savings for a combined Hightower, Chung, and Cannon retirements at 13.6M, which assumes cap minimum replacements.

Do the retirements of Hightower, Cannon and Chung add to the $55.9M or are they a part of it?

 

[luuked]

Do the retirements of Hightower, Cannon and Chung add to the $55.9M or are they a part of it?

None of them have retired yet. So their salaries for 2020 rolled over into next year and are included.

 

[Mike the Brit]

None of them have retired yet. So their salaries for 2020 rolled over into next year and are included.

Thanks.

 

[WinstonSmith]

Spotrac has it at 130M in active contracts and therefore about 70M in cap space. I wonder where the difference of 13M in active contracts between Miguel and them comes from.

To add a little more context if you're comparing Miguel's numbers to Spotrac: Miguel's numbers included 57 players, which also included the 2 tenders mentioned earlier. He also assumed that any practice squad players that were called up will be signed to a futures deal. His cap of 175m is the league's agreed upon minimum cap but it could go higher.

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

Man...assuming a QB takes up 20 Million of that and I'm not sure 30M is enough to improve this team all that much TBH.

Dmac retiring would probably net another 10M though

QB cap hit depends on if we go the FA route or the draft. If it’s the latter
the cap hit wouldn’t be too bad. Using Herbert for example his cap hit is around 4 mil this and gradually goes up to 8 mil by year 4.

 

[luuked]

To add a little more context if you're comparing Miguel's numbers to Spotrac: Miguel's numbers included 57 players, which also included the 2 tenders mentioned earlier. He also assumed that any practice squad players that were called up will be signed to a futures deal. His cap of 175m is the league's agreed upon minimum cap but it could go higher.

I am absolutely sure Miguel is correct. Am was just surprised by the huge difference. Spotrac also uses 175M so the gap must be somehow related to active contracts that they are not tracking.

 

[luuked]

QB cap hit depends on if we go the FA route or the draft. If it’s the latter
the cap hit wouldn’t be too bad. Using Herbert for example his cap hit is around 4 mil this and gradually goes up to 8 mil by year 4.

You will still need a competent vet QB if you go the draft route. Even if they draft a QB in the first round the overwhelming odds are that this player will not start. Hell, unless that vet option vomits over himself like Hoyer did against the Chiefs -- or gets injured/suspended -- I'd even say odds are that any rookie QB would sit through the entirety of 2021.

 

[DaBruinz]

You will still need a competent vet QB if you go the draft route. Even if they draft a QB in the first round the overwhelming odds are that this player will not start. Hell, unless that vet option vomits over himself like Hoyer did against the Chiefs -- or gets injured/suspended -- I'd even say odds are that any rookie QB would sit through the entirety of 2021

I really hope the Pats dump Hoyer. He showed that he's really not a competent back-up. We could do worse than Jimmy G or Brissette returning.

 

[slam]

If a player retires do we gain all of his scheduled salary for cap space? For example, if we owe Cannon $4M (or whatever) and he retires do we gain $4M in cap space or is there some dead cap?

Also, how is the league handling any player who opted out this year and who retires next year?

 

[masterbouncer]

If a player retires do we gain all of his scheduled salary for cap space? For example, if we owe Cannon $4M (or whatever) and he retires do we gain $4M in cap space or is there some dead cap?

Also, how is the league handling any player who opted out this year and who retires next year?

prorated signing bonus remains as dead money/dead cap in the books, the other money which is not guaranteed will be added to the patriots cap, which means it increases the cap

not sure about your second question but what I understood is that players took 150k to 300k guaranteed this year(kind of a loan from future years), in case they retire next season (not sure about the date they have to decide in order to fall under this rule, or avoid it by retiring begining, mid of season) they have to pay it back to the team...if they keep playing it will reduce their next year cap by that amount, say one has 2.5M cap and was considered non-risk opt out (thus receiving 150k payment this year) will reduce his cap by same amount and lead to having 2.35M cap in the books, the player will also receive 150k less next year, because he received it already in the opt-out year (loan)

if they retire, they have basically to pay back the received opt-out-payment and only the guaranteed money (prorated signing bonus) will remain on the cap as dead money, rest of the players cap will be freed up for the team

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

You will still need a competent vet QB if you go the draft route. Even if they draft a QB in the first round the overwhelming odds are that this player will not start. Hell, unless that vet option vomits over himself like Hoyer did against the Chiefs -- or gets injured/suspended -- I'd even say odds are that any rookie QB would sit through the entirety of 2021.

Agreed. If Cam isn’t brought back I wouldn’t mind someone like Fitzpatrick being brought in to start until the rookie is ready. But like you said earlier you can structure the deal to avoid taking that big of a cap hit.

 

[Uptown]

 

[mgteich]

I'm not sure we need continuing reminders that the team failed to use their cap space on trading for a WR, NT or LB. I believe that we were a player away from being in the playoffs.

 

[NYCPATS4LIFE]

I keep hearing how the cap will go down to 175 around there but it wouldn’t shock me if it’s in the 190s.

 

[Uptown]

I'm not sure we need continuing reminders that the team failed to use their cap space on trading for a WR, NT or LB. I believe that we were a player away from being in the playoffs.

It is what it is..get over it.