YOu are talking about the gross rookie salary cap money. The net is much less than that,
Later in the same thread Adam provides an illustration of Andy's point.
"Just to clarify, for players who aren't in the Top 51, the only thing that does not count against the cap is their base salary. Everything else (usually just bonus prorations and workout bonuses) counts against the cap as normal.
For each rookie who DOES make the Top 51, the net cap room used when he signs is his cap number minus the base salary of the player he replaced in the Top 51 (most likely either $385,000 or $460,000 this season, since those are the minimum salaries for second- and third-year players, respectively).
For each rookie who DOES NOT make the Top 51, the net cap room used when he signs is his cap number minus HIS base salary (the rookie minimum this year is $310,000).
Just as an example, let's say a team has 10 picks spread throughout the draft and gets a rookie pool of $5 million. Let's say, hypothetically, that team's first four picks get enough to make the Top 51, and the bottom six don't. The top four picks bump out second-year players from the Top 51. The net cap room that team needs to sign ALL of its rookies (including undrafted free agents) would be $1.4 million — or just 28 percent of its rookie pool number.
Why is it so low? Because the first four guys will displace four salaries of $385,000 (a total of $1.54 million), and the last six guys' base salaries won't count (a total of $1.86 million). That's a combined $3.6 million that either won't count against the cap or will simply displace the same amount on the cap."
For the Patriots the 51st player has a salary of $460,000.
