Incentives Tidbit

[Miguel]

1.) Found out from Ben Volin this week and confirmed it that Danny Amendola has a 500K NLTBE incentives for receptions. Thanks, Ben, for the heads up. This means that the Pats entered the season with over 10M in NLTBE incentives that had various chances of being earned. While it is now impossible for Amendola to earn the 500K, the Pats could not have known that during the offseason.

For me, the number one reason for the Pats cap space is to account for the NLTBE incentives, not to have a cushion for trading Brady next year.

2.) Vollmer is well on his way to increasing his cap number from $3.75m to $7.75m
He gets a $1 million roster bonus in 2015 if he plays in at least 80% of the offensive snaps.
He has a $62,500 46-man active roster bonus in 2015 ($1 million total).
His $1.75m playing-time incentive will be considered LTBE in 2015 since he has played in over 91% of the offensive snaps this year.

 

[Miguel]

Ben Volin's story on incentives http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2...this-season/6OZJr9K9c22rSQWfRx3VNO/story.html reminded me that Arrington has a 250K NLTBE Pro Bowl incentive. This means that the Pats entered the season with over 10.4M in NLTBE incentives that had various chances of being earned.

 

[strngplyr]

Good timing:

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/new-...ebastian-vollmers-contract-incentives-changed

Weird change though, isn't this basically just increasing the likelihood of needing to pay him with no team benefit?

On the surface it says the team really respects Vollmer. Maybe there were internal complaints about the Canon rotation being done to not pay Vollmer so they did this to put an end to that speculation?

 

[Oswlek]

Good timing:

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/new-...ebastian-vollmers-contract-incentives-changed

Weird change though, isn't this basically just increasing the likelihood of needing to pay him with no team benefit?

On the surface it says the team really respects Vollmer. Maybe there were internal complaints about the Canon rotation being done to not pay Vollmer so they did this to put an end to that speculation?

Seems like the team just giving Vollmer some assurances that being a good soldier won't cost him any money.

 

[BelichickFan]

I'm happy they're doing that for Vollmer, I'm sure the intent was to protect from injury, not to screw the player. These lowered numbers likely make the incentive about what it was after adjusting for Cannon's time.

I love cap space but not at the cost of an unhappy locker room thinking the team is screwing them.

 

[strngplyr]

Seems like the team just giving Vollmer some assurances that being a good soldier won't cost him any money.

HAve to agree, I've definitely seen speculation about the Canon rotation being used to screw Vollmer, this looks like the team is saying "back off, we're doing whats best with it, not screwing anyone."

 

[Urgent]

In an earlier article, Coach De-Gooj was quoted saying they want to rotate OL. I took that as an odd approach - or at least really different from the normal OL approach. DL is typically rotated, and we were all concerned with Ninkovich and Jones played 95% of the snaps. OL is typically not rotated, and we were all concerned with Cannon coming in for a couple series - and performing crappy.

Anyway, hopefully that rotation thing is out of their system.
$8mm for the right tackle? Yow. That's restructuring time. I don't know if he's worth $8mm. I do know he's worth $8mm more than Cannon right now.

 

[JMC00]

No chance the 2-6 "Pats are cheap" show will talk about the Vollmer thing. Yet they have had no problem accusing of the Pats of snap counting guys so they don't have to pay.

 

[Sicilian]

No chance the 2-6 "Pats are cheap" show will talk about the Vollmer thing. Yet they have had no problem accusing of the Pats of snap counting guys so they don't have to pay.

My first thought too. And it's not just them. Many here accused the Pats of penny pinching on Tommy Kelly and cutting him because of it. Seems to me they don't have a problem paying money they don't have to if it's the right thing, and that Kelly's cut was more him not understanding his role rather than them doing wrong by him.

 

[Rob0729]

Good timing:

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/new-...ebastian-vollmers-contract-incentives-changed

Weird change though, isn't this basically just increasing the likelihood of needing to pay him with no team benefit?

On the surface it says the team really respects Vollmer. Maybe there were internal complaints about the Canon rotation being done to not pay Vollmer so they did this to put an end to that speculation?

Bedard brings up a good point in that the Pats have been blowing out teams in recent weeks and this will allow them to sit Vollmer and not risk injury or burning him out in these situations without causing tension in the locker room.

 

[Miguel]

If Sebastian Vollmer reaches all of his playing-time incentives and plays in every game this year and next his cap hits will be $4,088,933, $8,083,333 in 2015, $8,083,334 in 2016. Add 250K to the 2015/2016 numbers if he makes the Pro Bowl the previous year.

 

[Ring 6]

1.) Found out from Ben Volin this week and confirmed it that Danny Amendola has a 500K NLTBE incentives for receptions. Thanks, Ben, for the heads up. This means that the Pats entered the season with over 10M in NLTBE incentives that had various chances of being earned. While it is now impossible for Amendola to earn the 500K, the Pats could not have known that during the offseason.

For me, the number one reason for the Pats cap space is to account for the NLTBE incentives, not to have a cushion for trading Brady next year.

2.) Vollmer is well on his way to increasing his cap number from $3.75m to $7.75m
He gets a $1 million roster bonus in 2015 if he plays in at least 80% of the offensive snaps.
He has a $62,500 46-man active roster bonus in 2015 ($1 million total).
His $1.75m playing-time incentive will be considered LTBE in 2015 since he has played in over 91% of the offensive snaps this year.

Miguel,
Would Vollmers 2015 cap number be a double hit? That is if he plays 90% of the snaps, then the 1.75 mill that was NLTBE this year moves to the 2015 cap, and also the 2015 incentive become LTBE because it was achieved in 2014, thereby adding 3.5 mill to the 2015 cap. Am I understanding that correctly?

 

[Miguel]

Miguel,
Would Vollmers 2015 cap number be a double hit? That is if he plays 90% of the snaps, then the 1.75 mill that was NLTBE this year moves to the 2015 cap, and also the 2015 incentive become LTBE because it was achieved in 2014, thereby adding 3.5 mill to the 2015 cap. Am I understanding that correctly?

Yes. Quoting myself from one of my 2015 salary cap preview blog.
"A reached NLTBE incentive in 2014 can adversely impacts the Patriots 2015 cap in two ways. It will lower the team's 2015 adjusted cap number while also increasing the player's cap number for 2015. Let's use Vollmer as an example. Let's presume that he plays in 95% of the offensive snaps in 2014. For simplicity sake, let's also pretend that no other Patriot had incentives in their contract. By playing in over 90% of the offensive snaps, that would mean that he reached his 2 million NTLBE playing time incentive. Let's assume that the 2015 cap is announced to be $140 million. The Patriots adjusted cap number would be decreased by the $2 million making it $138 million. Because he reached the incentive in 2014, the 90% playing time would be considered LTBE for 2015 increasing Vollmer's cap number from $4.5 million to $6.5 million. That reached NLTBE incentive just lowered the Patriots 2015 cap space by $4 million.

 

[mgteich]

So, if I understand correctly, your 2015 cap page will be adjusted to add incentives that will now be LTBE. like Vollmer's.

 

[Danger Zone]

Greg A. BedardVerified account‏@GregABedard
@patscap @PatriotsSB49 @Dan_Lifshatz And that. Miguel knows his cap

While my respect for Bedard is already very high, it just went up several notches for this shout out.

Now just to find him a radio show actually worthy of his (and our) time.

 

[Miguel]

So, if I understand correctly, your 2015 cap page will be adjusted to add incentives that will now be LTBE. like Vollmer's.

Funny that you mention that. Was going to ask this board and my Twitter followers if I should now change my 2015 cap numbers for players who I think are going to reach their 2014 NLTBE incentives.