Reminder: Pats Had $28.5M in Dead Cap Money in April.... then 8 Key Players Opted Out (Rebuild Year)

[DropKickFlutie]

What happened to the Patriots’ salary cap space?

At $1.75 million, the Pats rank second to last in the NFL in available cap space.

www.bostonherald.com

This article does a nice job summarizing. Tom Brady leaving (he chose to leave, he put up his house on the market in Aug'18), and Brady's original cap hits all accelerated to hit the Pats with $14M in dead money at once. Cutting AB (thanks Kraft) and several others also created dead money. They only had $1M to sign Cam at the time remember. Then later that summer a crazy high 8 players in the covid-19 opt-out left including Hightower, Chung, Cannon. So anyways this was always going to be a rebuilding year to clean the cap and set up for a strong 2021.

Just putting this all in perspective. Some need to chill out the same way it was unfair to pile on when Tom Brady completely didn't realize it was 4th down.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

I've been looking back when the Patriots reloaded after a disappointing 2002 season. The biggest of course was cutting a not-old team captain Lawyer Milloy in 2003. Reloaded with Ty Warren, Ted Washington, Rodney, others too. What big surprise would you see for 2021 ? I think Cannon, Edelman, Chung , McDaniels are all potentially on the chopping block in the off-season

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[cmasspatsfan]

Its a different rebuilding year since TB is not here and he'd probably win 11-12 games with this roster. But I agree next year should be much better with all the cap space.

 

[RIpats88]

its clear to see why Brady left. He has maybe 2 good years left at his age(its looking like longer now but age catches up to everyone) and he cant waste a year throwing to stiffs like damien Byrd and Nkeal harry. Had the patriots went and traded for stefon diggs or Hopkins which they were both linked at exploring I think brady maybe stays. or even bring back AB.

Brady was able to weather poor offensive weapon years like 2006 and 2013 (two of the other worst receiving corps brady has had) because he was relatively young and could stand a "rebuilding" season. and Bill stocked the cupboard after both years. But at 43 I dont think brady has the patience or time to wait. Its all in, win now.

 

[BelizePats]

I've been looking back when the Patriots reloaded after a disappointing 2002 season. The biggest of course was cutting a not-old team captain Lawyer Milloy in 2003. What big surprise would you see for 2021 ? I think Cannon, Edelman, Chung , McDaniels are all potentially on the chopping block in the off-season

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I think you are right here in terms of future cuts and likely candidates. This rebuild in not just a 2020 deal. Next year we will likely see some long serving players released as the team looks to shed salary and get younger. This was inevitable given the cap situation in a post Brady environment.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

its clear to see why Brady left. He has maybe 2 good years left at his age(its looking like longer now but age catches up to everyone) and he cant waste a year throwing to stiffs like damien Byrd and Nkeal harry. Had the patriots went and traded for stefon diggs or Hopkins which they were both linked at exploring I think brady maybe stays. or even bring back AB.

Brady was able to weather poor offensive weapon years like 2006 and 2013 (two of the other worst receiving corps brady has had) because he was relatively young and could stand a "rebuilding" season. and Bill stocked the cupboard after both years. But at 43 I dont think brady has the patience or time to wait. Its all in, win now.

Bingo! Timing was a HUGE factor. TFB did not have the time to hang around until a rebuild happened. With one to maybe 3 years left to play at a winning level Tommy Boy chose to go where the bright shiny new toys were being wasted. Kraft nuking AB was the final blow killing any chance (unlikely though) of reversing the decision to leave. I also think Giselle was a factor. My speculation is that she agreed to not ***** about playing a couple more years if they moved to a warmer climate, say to SD or Tamper.

 

[UGAPatsfan]

I am confident that Hightower and Cannon have played thier last downs in NE. Too much $$ for thoer age

 

[Scotty]

You could be correct , but would the team consider taking Hightower back for a tear to mentor the LB crew for 2021 ?? Maybe this would be too expensive.I would not be surprised to see Cannon hang his boots up.

 

[Scotty]

Sorry meant to say - year !....lol

 

[DropKickFlutie]

I am confident that Hightower and Cannon have played thier last downs in NE. Too much $$ for thoer age

Hightower is a huge loss if they move on. He's a stud. Championship player. If they get a top15 pick might have to get another MLB...

 

[RodThePat]

8 key players? I'd say Hightower is absolutely key, but is Chung at this juncture any better than Dugger/Phillips? Is Cannon a considerable improvement over Onwenu? The rest of the guys are unquestionably JAGs. I'd say they lost one key player, two contributors and a bunch of roster filler.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

8 key players? I'd say Hightower is absolutely key, but is Chung at this juncture any better than Dugger/Phillips? Is Cannon a considerable improvement on Onwenu? The rest of the guys are unquestionably JAGs. I'd say they lost one key player, two contributors and a bunch of roster filler.

They may be older but Chung has 3 rings and Cannon played like an all pro before. So no, street castoff Eleamunor and rookie Dugger are not of the same awareness and production this season. Have you seen how the D can't stop the run, and OLine with pass blocking issues

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[DropKickFlutie]

Belichick: Pats' depth issues partly due to cap

Patriots coach Bill Belichick said that his struggling 2020 team doesn't have the same level of depth as some past clubs, in part because of the salary cap, which has led to younger players being thrust into action.

www.espn.com

"We were pretty heavily invested in our team in the past few years. From a salary-cap standpoint, we didn't have much flexibility at all. I think that was obvious on the Cam Newton contract [one year, $1.05 million base salary]," Belichick told Sirius XM NFL Radio."

 

[RodThePat]

They may be older but Chung has 3 rings and Cannon played like an all pro before. So no, street castoff Eleamunor and rookie Dugger are not of the same awareness and production this season. Have you seen how the D can't stop the run, and OLine with pass blocking issues

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What does Chung's rings or Cannon's past level of play have to do with how they'd perform for the 2020 Patriots? They have been fine at safety and at RT, Cannon and Chung didn't play last year at a level above the production they're getting from their replacements right now, they aren't the difference between this team being bad and competitive, not by a long shot. Hightower on the other hand is a good player who would directly replace arguably their worst starter on defense, so he's a big difference maker.

 

[slifersd]

If we had cap issues, why didn't we just cut Chung and Cannon to create some? We have a ton of bodies in their positions, they are on the wrong side of 30 and have durability issues. Those are the kind of guys BB used to get rid of quickly to avoid cap problems. This year, he just sat on his hands and did nothing. I understand we had cap issues, but many teams in the NFL have cap issues and can manage their way out of it with restructures, cuts and trades. We literally did nothing, so you cant just blame everything on dead money. Even with no cap space, we still could've tried to improve our team, there were guys that signed for minimum contracts that are making an impact on their teams right now.

 

[Doctor DDS]

If we had cap issues, why didn't we just cut Chung and Cannon to create some? We have a ton of bodies in their positions, they are on the wrong side of 30 and have durability issues. Those are the kind of guys BB used to get rid of quickly to avoid cap problems. This year, he just sat on his hands and did nothing. I understand we had cap issues, but many teams in the NFL have cap issues and can manage their way out of it with restructures, cuts and trades. We literally did nothing, so you cant just blame everything on dead money. Even with no cap space, we still could've tried to improve our team, there were guys that signed for minimum contracts that are making an impact on their teams right now.

Do you have any idea what cutting those players would have meant from a cap savings perspective? And would that extra money have been enough to solve some of their issues or are the Pats better off just banking as much cap space as possible? Next year there will seemingly be more players available than the cap space across the league so ideally there should be some bargains to be had.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

What does Chung's rings or Cannon's past level of play have to do with how they'd perform for the 2020 Patriots? They have been fine at safety and at RT, Cannon and Chung didn't play last year at a level above the production they're getting from their replacements right now, they aren't the difference between this team being bad and competitive, not by a long shot. Hightower on the other hand is a good player who would directly replace arguably their worst starter on defense, so he's a big difference maker.

I mean look at Eleamunor or Dugger/Phillips. I don't think their play is on the same level. Nevertheless this is the year to play and develop the young guys, if we're going to just play the long term game

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[PP2]

They may be older but Chung has 3 rings and Cannon played like an all pro before. So no, street castoff Eleamunor and rookie Dugger are not of the same awareness and production this season. Have you seen how the D can't stop the run, and OLine with pass blocking issues

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Dugger has pretty much made Chung expendable. He has exceeded expectations.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

2-5 now. Would it actually not be bad if we ended up with a top12 pick plus 120M in cap room for 2021 ??


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[DropKickFlutie]

O'Connor: The Patriots miss Tom Brady more every Sunday

Who was more critical to the Patriots' dynasty: the GOAT quarterback or the GOAT coach? After eight weeks of this 2020 season, we may have an answer.

www.espn.com